Trivia

Her mother named her after her favorite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. By coincidence, in the mid-'70s when Day wrote her autobiography, Kenyon was her neighbor on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills, CA.

Her dreams of a dancing career were dashed when a car accident on October 13, 1937, badly damaged her legs. She spent most of her teenage years wheelchair-bound and during this time began singing on the radio.

Her son Terry Melcher had rented a house at 10050 Cielo Drive in Bel Air, CA, where Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered by the Charles Manson "Family". On March 23, 1969, Charles Manson had visited the house looking for Melcher, a music producer and composer who had worked with The Beach Boys, Bobby Darin, and The Byrds. The house was now sub-leased by Tate, and her photographer told Manson to leave by "the back alley", possibly giving Manson a motive for the later attack. Melcher had auditioned Manson for a recording contract but rejected him, and there was a rumor after the murders that Manson had intended to send a message to Melcher, a theory that police later discounted.

Rock Hudson called her "Eunice" because he said that whenever he thought of her as Eunice, it made him laugh.

She turned down the role of Maria in The Sound of Music (1965) with the explanation: "I'm too American to play a nun from Austria.".

Underwent a hysterectomy during the filming of Julie (1956) after being diagnosed with a tumor the size of a grapefruit that was growing into her intestines.

In June 2004 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. She did not attend the White House award ceremony because of her intense fear of flying.

Gave birth to her only child at age 19, a son Terrence "Terry" Jorden (aka Terry Melcher) on February 8, 1942. Child's father was her first ex-husband, Al Jorden. Terry was later adopted by his stepfather and became known as Terry Melcher.

It was during the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), when she saw how camels, goats, and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated that began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.

Briefly dated Ronald Reagan - with whom she co-starred in Storm Warning (1950) and The Winning Team (1952) - shortly after his divorce from Jane Wyman when she and Reagan were contract players at Warner Brothers. Day told him that he was so good at talking that he should be touring the country making speeches. At the time, the future Republican President was a Democrat.

Smoked 2-1/2 packs of cigarettes a day until about 1951.

Has often cited Calamity Jane (1953) as her personal favorite of the 39 movies she appeared in, and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)--which she referred to as "an "alleged comedy"--as her least favorite.

When her husband and manager of 17 years, Martin Melcher, died suddenly in April 1968, she professed not to have known that he had negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal with CBS to launch The Doris Day Show (1968) the following fall. After an abbreviated period of mourning, she went ahead with the series, which ran successfully for five seasons.

Her only child, Terry Melcher, died of melanoma on November 19, 2004, aged 62.

After her Pillow Talk (1959) co-star Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985, Day told the press that she had never known he was a homosexual.

Reportedly did not like profanity. As a recording artist, she would require anyone who swore to put a quarter in a "swear jar". In addition, she does not allow her songs to be used in movies that contain swear words.

WB changed her date of birth in 1947 when she signed her contract with them. She was 25 in 1947, and the studio decided they wanted their new starlet to be 23 instead. It wasn't until April 3, 2017 (her 95th, not 93rd, birthday) that her birth certificate was found by the Associated Press, which confirmed she was born in 1922. Doris Day, however, always knew when she was born, never lied to friends and associates, and was very forthright in talking about it. It was her inept spokesperson who blathered on about her "not knowing" when the discrepancy finally came to light.

She and her son Terry Melcher (along with a partner) co-own the Cypress Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, a small "Hotel California-esque" inn built in a beautiful Mediterranean motif.

Has performed two songs in films that won the Academy Award for Best Original Song: "Secret Love" from Calamity Jane (1953) and "Que Sera, Sera" from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). Introduced four songs that were nominated: "It's Magic" from Romance on the High Seas (1948), "It's a Great Feeling" from It's a Great Feeling (1949), "I'll Never Stop Loving You" from Love Me or Leave Me (1955) and "Julie" from Julie (1956).

Telephoned the White House to personally explain to President George W. Bush her reasons for not attending her award presentation in June 2004, and said she was praying hard that he would be elected to a second term of office in November.

She turned down the role of Jessica in Murder, She Wrote (1984) due to concerns about her age and looks. The fall of that year she had a face lift.

The film The Children's Hour (1961) was constructed with both Day and Katharine Hepburn as the two leading ladies. However both actresses backed out due to scheduling conflicts and as a result Shirley MacLaine was cast in Hepburn's role and Audrey Hepburn was cast in Day's role.

In 1976 she married Barry Comden, 13 years her junior. They met at the Beverly Hills Old World Restaurant where he was the maitre d'. In the 1970s Comden opened an Old World restaurant in Westwood and supervised the construction of another restaurant, Tony Roma's, in Palm Springs, CA. It was Comden who came up with the idea for a line of pet food that would feature Doris' name. Doris Day Distributing Co. unraveled mainly because of a pyramid-type scheme that the couple had been unaware of. They lived in Carmel but Comden complained that Day preferred the company of her dogs more than him and they divorced in 1981.

According to her autobiography, she got the nickname Clara Bixby when Billy De Wolfe told her, on the set of Tea for Two (1950), that she didn't look like a "Doris Day", but more like a "Clara Bixby". Until her death, that remained her nickname among a close circle of old friends, such as Van Johnson.

Has a fear of flying that stemmed from tours with Bob Hope in the 1940s that resulted in some close calls in impenetrable winter weather. She almost turned down her role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) because it was to be filmed in London and Marrakesh. Her husband and manager, Martin Melcher, talked her into accepting it.

Childhood idol was Ginger Rogers, with whom she starred in Storm Warning (1950).

While performing for a local radio station, she was approached by band leader Barney Rapp. He felt that her name, Kappelhoff, was too harsh and awkward and that she should change her name to something more pleasant. The name "Day" was suggested by Rapp from one of the songs in Doris' repertoire, "Day by Day". She didn't like the name at first, feeling that it sounded too much like a burlesque performer.

In March 1989 she was scheduled to present, along with Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch, the Best Original Score Oscar at The 61st Annual Academy Awards (1989), but she suffered a deep leg cut and was unable to attend. She had been walking through the gardens of the hotel she owns when she cut her leg on a sprinkler. The cut required stitches.

Oscar Levant quipped, "I've been around so long, I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." This was first said by Groucho Marx.

Her first marriage at age 19 to trombone player Al Jordan, whom she met while both were performing in Barney Rapp's band, was extremely unhappy. They divorced within two years amid reports of Jordan's alcoholism and abuse of the young star. Despondent and feeling his life had little meaning after the much publicized divorce, Jordan later committed suicide.

Was one of the original choices to play "Jessica Fletcher" when Murder, She Wrote (1984) was being cast. However, she turned down the role due to the fact that she had been retired from acting for over a decade.

As of June 2008 she was managing the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, CA, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets.

When Quigley Publications ranked the top box office draws of the 20th century, Doris Day was the highest-rated actress, having been among the Top Ten Stars list 10 times between 1951 and 1966, placing #1 four times. Other high-ranking females included Shirley Temple, Betty Grable, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Went to the same Cincinnati ballroom dance studio as a child as Vera-Ellen. Their parents used to carpool together to the dance studio.

Her husband/manager Martin Melcher turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), fearing it would damage her "image". The role went instead to Anne Bancroft and not only earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination, but eventually became one of the first films to surpass $100 million at the box office.

In order to make a political statement regarding the platform of the Canadian Alliance Party, in 2000 Canadian satirist Rick Mercer launched an attempt to hold a national referendum on the question of whether or not Stockwell Day should be forced to change his first name to "Doris". Within days, he had the required number of signatures under the Alliance Parties current platform to launch a federal referendum. According to her publicist, Doris was amused by this.

Tinseltown folklore insists she was "discovered" by director Michael Curtiz, when she sang at a Hollywood party in 1948. At the time, Curtiz was seeking a singer/actress to replace Betty Hutton, who had become pregnant and had to back out of Romance on the High Seas (1948), which Curtiz was to direct.

Is referenced on every chorus of Ringo Starr's last top 40 release in 1999, "La De Da".

Vocal supporter and close friends with President Ronald Reagan.

Co-starred with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall in three films: Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). In all three, Day and Hudson played love interests while Randall played Hudson's close friend.

Third husband Martin Melcher produced 18 of her movies between 1956 and his death in 1968, as well as credited as executive producer on the first season of her CBS series The Doris Day Show (1968). (In actuality, he died before the series began production.) In her 1975 autobiography, she revealed that, by the mid-1960s, Melcher was signing her to films without asking her whether or not she actually wanted to do them first. She did not like the scripts for Do Not Disturb (1965), The Ballad of Josie (1967), Caprice (1967), and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968), but was forced to do the movies because Melcher had control over her career. She also did not find out he had signed her up for The Doris Day Show (1968) until after his death.

She was named the #1 box-office star of 1962, 1963, and 1964 by the Motion Picture Herald, based on an annual poll of exhibitors as to the drawing power of movie stars at the box-office conducted by Quigley Publications.

She and Mary Wickes appeared together in four movies: On Moonlight Bay (1951), I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), and It Happened to Jane (1959). Wickes also guest-starred on the first season of Day's TV series The Doris Day Show (1968).

As per her last wishes, there was no funeral or graveside service. She was cremated and her ashes scattered in Carmel, California.

Awarded two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6735 Hollywood Blvd. and for Recording at 6278 Hollywood Blvd.

Is referenced in the 1970 song "Dig It" by The Beatles.

She received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

She was the last surviving cast member of Young at Heart (1954).

It is widely assumed that Doris Day's husband and manager Martin Melcher negotiated his wife's multi-million-dollar deal for her CBS TV series because by 1968, his wife's days as a top box office draw were "over". In truth, Day was ranked 1968's 14th most popular movie star; a far cry from her #1 status in the early 1960s, but still an impressive achievement.

Is referenced in the song "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by pop band Wham!, a single that hit Billboard's #1 in 1984.