Doris Day

What can you say when a real legend leaves?  Doris Day was such a legend. While 97 is a good long life and she'd not been on screen for decades, Doris Day remains a presence in my life.


I grew up watching her films on TV, first falling in love with her and Rock Hudson in their classic Pillow Talk and Move Over Darling.  I loved her television show, set in my beloved San Francisco.  Later on, though I knew she sang in movies, I discovered her recordings as a band singer. 


Day said herself in her autobiography with A.E. Hoetchner that she had a terrible life.  God knows, she did.  Out of the horror of her personal experiences, she remained a sunny personality, a voice for goodness in her activism for animals, and she always ended conversations with kindness.  She brought joy.


She was a feminist ideal before feminist was coined.  Some might argue her on screen persona in films like Pillow Talk were exaggerated and unattainable.  To me, these ideals inspired.  Women could work in big business, could hold executive positions, could run companies, could be independent on their own terms.  All this and they could have fabulous apartments, wear fabulous clothes and enjoy fabulous lives, all on their own.


In the end this is what Doris did, she ran her foundation, lived in her beautiful home, shared with her friends and led a happy life.  We all should be so fortunate.  I hope her devoted son Terry Melcher was there to greet her, along with thousands of happy dogs and cats.


Doris loved her film Calamity Jane, it has long been a favorite of mine.  Give it a watch, she's magnificent in it!

Birthday celebrations on the set of The Man Who Knew Too Much
with Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart.