Doris Day starred in movies with some of the biggest names in Hollywood history.
Doris Day, longtime actress, singer and animal advocate, has died at the age of 97, or as many in Dog Twitter would put it, she has “crossed over the rainbow bridge.”
Day appeared in 39 films from 1948 to 1968, and she is best known for her role of frantic mother Jo McKenna in 1956’s The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart, director Alfred Hitchcock’s remake of his 1934 movie of the same name.
She is also well-known for 1959 romance Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson.
She worked with such Hollywood legends as Clark Gable, James Garner, Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra during her career.
Actress and singer Doris Day made nearly three dozen films and more than 600 recordings. At the height of her career, she topped both the billboard and the box office charts. Day died of pneumonia on Monday at the age of 97. pic.twitter.com/93sTrvb1Bq
— NPR (@NPR) May 13, 2019
Day also has a singing career beginning around 1939, becoming a solo act in 1945. Her most well-known song is “Que Sera Sera (What Will Be Will Be),” and she recorded around twenty albums, mostly from the 1940s to the 1960s, though some “hidden” recordings weren’t released until as late as 2011.
Four times in the early 1960s she was named the No. 1 actress in the country.
After her film career ended, Day had a show on CBS called The Doris Day Show, and then a short-lived daytime talk show in the 1980s.
She led an anti-fur wearing campaign in the early 1970s that included many of the top actresses of the era, including Mary Tyler Moore.
In 1971, Day was one of the founders of the organization Actors and Others for Animals (AOA), which seeks to spay/neuter Southern California pets, and she founded the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) in 1978. She also founded the Doris Day Animal League in 1987, which merged with the Humane Society of the United States about twenty years later in 2006.
Contemporaries George Takei (Sulu on Star Trek) and actor/writer/director/producer Carl Reiner (The Dick Van Dyke Show) mourned the loss on Twitter.
For those of us in my generation, Doris Day was synonymous with Hollywood icon. She would no doubt remind us, upon this day of her passing, “Que sera sera,” but we will miss her dearly anyway. Rest now in our hearts forever, Ms. Day.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 13, 2019
This morning I was saddened to learn that Doris Day who starred in a film I had written "The Thrill Of It All" had passed away at 97. Just a week ago, I contacted her and welcomed her to the 97 Year Actor's Club.
— carl reiner (@carlreiner) May 13, 2019
For more general movie and television news within the FanSided Network, see Hidden Remote and Show Snob, and Amazon Adviser, Hulu Watcher, and Netflix Life for streaming content.