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.
Has often cited Calamity Jane (1953) as her personal favorite of the 39 films she appeared in.
Has one grandson; Ryan Melcher (b. May 1983).
Her dreams of a dancing career were dashed when a car accident on 13 October 1937 badly damaged her legs. She spent most of her teenage years wheelchair-bound and during this time began singing on the radio.
Her father was William Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choral master in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her mother was Alma Sophia Kappelhoff.
Her first marriage at age 17 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.
Her great-niece Pia Douwes is also a critically acclaimed actress.
Her mother named her after her favorite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. By coincidence, in the mid 1970's when Day wrote her autobiography, Kenyon was her neighbor on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills.
Her only UK appreciation club is called 'Friends of Doris Day' and is based in Oxford UK.
Her son Terry Melcher had rented the house at 10050 Cielo Drive in Bel Air, California, at which Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered by the 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.
Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6735 Hollywood Blvd.
In 1976, Doris married Barry Comden, 12 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. 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.
In 1989, Day received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
In Germany Edith Schneider dubbed her voice in most of her films.
In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta. She was occasionally dubbed by Dhia Cristiani, Rina Morelli and once by Lidia Simoneschi in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).
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. Doris, according to her publicist, was amused by this.
Is portrayed by Diane Behrens in Rock Hudson (1990) (TV)
Is referenced in the song "Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me" by Reunion, with lead singer Joey Levine.
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 Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.
It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp in 1939 or 1940 that Doris Day (then Kappelhoff) adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was "Day After Day", and her stage name was taken from that.