Why didn't Doris Day ever try to stretch herself as an actress?

OK that 'do is just beyond... not even drag queens do that kinda shit!

As soon as she married the Jew, she took anything.

I don't people would buy a person with a fucking palm tree growing out of her head as a serious dramatic actress.

And wasn't she pretty much a big band singer turned actress by chance? I think she did pretty well considering that. But her post-1961 ouput is pretty much unwatchable. I think she knew that too and called it quits soon afterwards.

She could sing well but I never liked her.

I found her wholesome, ideal wife template, Republican, blond housewife (cakes in the oven and house spotless) image too sickly sweet. She's a walking washing detergent ad.

That said, one of my favourite songs is 'Move Over Darling', but I prefer the Tracey Ullman version by far.

Doris had a long and successful run for a female star.

All she could do was run down spiral staircases and dress like the Morton Salt girl.

Midnight Lace. Storm Warning. Julie. The Man Who Knew to Much.

She 'stretched' a great deal. Usually with considerable success.

In popularity she ruled the first half of the 1960s.

Miss Doris Day was the #1 box office star of 1960. And #1 box office star for 1962, '63, '64.

1961 #3, 1965 #3 (behind Sean Connery & John Wayne, so she was still the most popular actress). And she was the most popular actress of 1959 too.

1966 #8

That's an incredible run that no other actress of the era can match.

"...too Much." Fuck! Why can't we edit on this site????

She was Mike Nichols' first choice to play Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate".

[quote]1966 #8

Let me add that among actresses in 1966 only Elizabeth Taylor and Julie Andrews ranked higher.

Doris is deserving of an honorary Oscar and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Why didn't she ever play the villain in any of her films?

The Academy tried to woo her for years with an honorary. She would never do it now. Doris knew when to quit.

She started out as a singer so I don't think her career goals were to be the Theda Bara of her era.

Compare and contrast her movie career with that of another singer/wannabe actress, Diana Ross. Given Ross' spectacular flame out in that bomb"The Wiz," her atrocious, cunty behavior and legendary hatred of Ross by the Hollywood elite, I'd say Doris did quite well for herself.

Meaning what, OP? DD played comedic; DD played dramatic; DD sang.

Are you suggesting that she needed to add Shakespeare to her repertoire, or perhaps Tennessee Williams? Because sure, Vivien Leigh, but was VL ever considered a great comedic actress?

People have different strengths.

She had serious parts but her fans loved her in comedy.

She did try, OP, and failed.

The number 1 hit record of 1945.

(That's 73 years ago.)

Doris Day defined the 1960s. She knew when to quit.

Midnight Lace is hoky melodrama and The Man Who Knew Too Much is an inferior remake where Doris' big scenes involve screaming or singing "Que Sara, Sara" which she supposedly did not want to do.

She did well with a good cast and director (Love Me or Leave Me) but her other dramatic material wasn't great. She wasn't a "B" actress but starting out as a singer probably led to typecasting (Love Me or Leave Me was about a singer). She made tons of money doing light comedy and playing the eternal virgin until she got sick of it. Hollywood did that to people--her contemporary Donna Reed (who, unlike Doris didn't lie about her age) was always stuck in B pictures, but got an Oscar for one of her few A pictures which had a goo director & script and a strong cast. Some actors just don't get many opportunities to shine and Doris made a pile of money doing crap.

She was fabulous in comedy. I defy anyone to watch The Thrill of it All and say she wasn't.

At about the age of 21, Doris became a single mother with a child to support when she divorced a husband who beat her. Going on tour with a band allowed her to make money to raise her son, but to do it, she had to leave him with her mother. She had several hit records while working with Les Brown, but touring is always difficult and she hated being away from her son.

She was called to do a screen test for Romance on the High Seas because Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne liked her singing. She got hired. For Doris it meant she didn't have to tour and be away from her son. For just about any other star in Hollywood, their film career was everything. To Doris Day, who by her early 20's was already an established musician, it was always a means to an end; a way to earn a good living, provide for her son and make a stable home where they could be together. That's why she could walk away. She wanted to do good work, but she only ever saw it as a job.

Her career reflects both her talent and her approach to the business. She's always top notch, but she did a lot of schlock because it gave her the money she wanted for things that were really important. And along the way, her personal life is remarkably free of the typical Hollywood pitfalls. No rehab. No arrests. No jail. She made millions. Raised her kid. And moved on. She's now 95 and still involved with charity work. Good for her.

[quote]Some actors just don't get many opportunities to shine and Doris made a pile of money doing crap.

[quote]. She's always top notch, but she did a lot of schlock

Most of Days comedy films a perfectly enjoyable. "The Thrill of it All" is a fine screw-ball comedy film. It got glowing reviews at the time and has held up beautifully. Day is wonderful in it.

Day did not stoop to kind of "crap" that other actresses Golden Age actresses (Crawford, Davis, Taylor, Russell, Sothern, de Havilland) wound up doing.

Oh dear....sorry for the typos! I pressed to post button too fast!

Her greatest film role was Love Me or Leave Me (1955), a powerful drama in which she co-starred with James Cagney. Based on a true story, she plays Ruth Etting, a singer and dancer who rose to fame as she endured an abusive relationship with a mobster. Day shows off her singing talents and her acting chops when she gets beat up by Cagney.

Afterward, Day pretty much stuck to comedy, which she excelled at, with a few notable exceptions including Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, which is good, and Midnight Lace, which is camp.

She received her only Oscar nomination for Pillow Talk (1959), the first of three successful comedies she made with Rock Hudson. She was No. 1 at the box office in the early 60s, making a string of light comedies with Hudson, James Garner and Rod Taylor. Her last movie was With Six You Get Egg Roll (1968) with Brian Keith. She later did 5 seasons of a sitcom, a few TV specials and then permanently retired from show biz and moved to Carmel, Calif., where she still lives today at 95.

Through the years, she has often been offered special honors (including Kennedy Center) which she declined, except for the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMIlle Award in 1989. She still looked fabulous when she accepted it.

Below is a still from Love Me or Leave Me.

"Midnight Lace" is hokey melodrama and "The Man Who Knew too Much" is an inferior remake, eh? So did Doris write, direct, or produce either of them? She played the part assigned to her and if all the other elements didn't come together perfectly, she had nothing to do with that. And any blame that gets apportioned to the actors involved can be shared with James Stewart, Rex Harrison, John Gavin, Myrna Loy, Roddy McDowall, Herbert Marshall, and Hermione Baddeley.

When I wrote that she did a 'lot of schlock,' I was also thinking about the endless trail of LP's she recorded. Some were carefully prepared and are terrific. Others are mediocre kitsch, or worse, designed to do nothing but put Doris Day's face on the cover and sell some records. She left the business to her husband and he - famously - mismanaged it. She could have been more attentive to quality. Seen retrospectively, her career would have been better. But then again, maybe she couldn't. Maybe those were fights she did not want and wisely avoided. She got her kid and her home and that's what she wanted.

Compared to other Golden Age of Hollywood actresses, Doris's '60s output wasn't bad. Yes, the likes of Midnight Lace is campy, but she doesn't humiliate herself by being in it. There is no "Trog" or "Bunny O'Hare" in her filmography, even after Melcher stole every penny she'd earned.

The Doris Day Show is a surprisingly watchable sitcom, in spite of the bizarreness of a format change virtually every season. Doris herself was a natural actress, very comfortable and natural in front of a camera. That might not sound like anything, but it's rare.

All in all, I think Doris Day is an extremely underrated actress (because she made it look easy) and a helluva good broad.

[quote]Seen retrospectively, her career would have been better.

Better in what way exactly? She wasn't a Katherine Hepburn and didn't pretend to be.

My gosh... she's the top female box office star of all time.

The gal was doing something right.

Better in what way exactly?

Gurrl, there is NO bigger Doris Day queen than me. But we all could have done without "Caprice."

She did TRY to stretch. Midnight Lace was an attempt. A failed attempt but still...

she really didn't give a shit.

[quote]The Man Who Knew Too Much is an inferior remake where Doris' big scenes involve screaming or singing "Que Sara, Sara" which she supposedly did not want to do.

The remake is clearly better than the original.

I've posted this before on one of the Hitchcock threads, but the 1956 version is a subtly feminist film.

The back story is that the Jimmy Stewart character forces Day quit the job she loves (she's a singer) because he wants her staying at home raising their son like the good 1950s housewife & mother she's supposed to be.

Then the tragedy strikes in the form of their son being kidnapped by terrorists.

Then in pure Hitchcock fashion, what saves the day is her voice - the very thing her husband denied her.

And she uses that voice not once but twice -once to avert an international catastrophe, and once to rescue her son and thereby save her family.

The irony of it all is fabulous.

She could have had sex with a wolf pack and still come across as a nice, dull suburbanite.

R30, Caprice was a masterpiece compared to The Ballad Of Jose, released the same year.

[quote]All in all, I think Doris Day is an extremely underrated actress (because she made it look easy) and a helluva good broad.

She didn't turn Rock Hudson away when he was dying. She's good people.

Playing a lesbian in 1953.

Oh, I STRETCHED plenty when I started dating that black Dodger!

It is easy to mock Doris as a lightweight, but she had the "IT" factor.

I saw "Romance on the High Seas" recently and I was surprised by how she stole focus in every scene she was in. She had star power.

[quote]She could have had sex with a wolf pack and still come across as a nice, dull suburbanite.

That's not at all how she came across. Nice yes, but nothing dull or suburbanite about her.

From "Pillow Talk" through her early '60s comedy films she plays what was really the predecessor to Anne Marie and Mary Richards.

Some actors and actresses find their niche and simply stay there because it brings them fame and fortune and a great sense of comfort.

Clark Gable was a natural who simply played variations of himself in most of his movies as did Doris Day. Audiences expected no more and no less of them.

R41 Clark Gable and Doris Day starred together in "Teacher's Pet".

Teacher's Pet.

The Academy should give her an honorary Oscar even if she won't attend the ceremony and EVEN if she won't appear on camera.

I mean, who cares? We all know what she looks like. Let them just show a montage of her hits.

R44 Yes!!

Yaaas Queen!

She's Beverly Boyer.......

I thought Doris said she couldn't handle roles like in Julie and Midnight Lace because she took the anxiety home and it drove her nuts.

She made a lotta shit.

More accomplished actresses than her made worse movies, R49. And furthermore, did Bette or Joan ever make a movie with Bugs Bunny? Doris did.

Unfortunately Mr. Bunny and I never got the chance to work together, though we'd often see each other on the Warner's lot r50. I remember him being an early proponent of vegetarianism and having a wicked sense of humor.

R50 I couldn't make it to the end. Please tell me it is revealed that the kid is dead.

No r52, but it would appear the child within you sure is!

The real legends of Hollywood rarely stretched themselves artistically. The only two risk taking performances by legends that I can think of are Bette Davis in Baby Jane and Liz Taylor in Virginia Woolf.

Day was the top female box-office star of her era because she gave audiences what they wanted, and that was Doris Day. Same with Barbra Streisand, who was the top female of the '60s-70s and never veered too far from her persona.

All the legends played themselves in every role--John Wayne, Clark Gable, Marilyn, Judy, Hepburn.

Perhaps R52 will appreciate this clip from "Tea For Two" a bit more. Around 0:45 you can see Doris with her original, pre-surgery honker but the absolute highlight of the clip begins at 1:45, when Gene Nelson does his famous dance on the stairway - those have to be the gayest sixty seconds ever captured on celluloid.

If the stairway looks familiar that's because it was reused in Auntie Mame years later.

Calamity Jane is my favorite movie of all time.

[quote]The Doris Day Show is a surprisingly watchable sitcom, in spite of the bizarreness of a format change virtually every season. Doris herself was a natural actress, very comfortable and natural in front of a camera. That might not sound like anything, but it's rare.

On one of the DVD extras for The Doris Day Show, Kaye Ballard described occasions when they were rehearsing scenes and Doris would express her own opinions on that episode's topic. She said, "I'd often have to ask if we were rehearsing lines or just talking. That's how natural her acting is. You can't tell."

The palm tree hair do is from a segment from her tv series where she's modeling funky clothes at a fashion show. She never wanted to do a tv series but after the death of her horrible husband Marty Melcher she found papers contracting her to do a weekly tv series. He did this entirely without her knowledge and she was stuck. Originally the show was folksy; it was set in the country and she had kids and a father and a dog. It didn't really go over well, so the show was totally changed to make Doris into a single city girl. It worked and the show was a success.

Doris Day was very talented. She could sing, dance, act; she could do it all. Her forte was comedy, but I think she could have done well in dramatic roles too. She was very good in "The Man Who Knew Too Much", playing the mother of a kidnapped boy in a Hitchcock film. She so deserves an Oscar or a Kennedy center honor. But she just doesn't care about things like that. Too bad; I think an Oscar tribute to her would be amazing.

The tv show had that crazed looking Jackie Joseph

Jackie Joseph Berry r59!!!

Did Hitchcock actually want Day in TMWKTM or was she imposed on him by the studio (like another songbird Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain)?

I knew a Hitchcock aficionado once and he detested [italic]Torn Curtain[/italic], but I don't remember his thoughts on either version of [italic]The Man Who Knew Too Much[/italic].

Guess she was too busy chasing Charlie Manson and Sly Stone.

Because I think she needed to work to pay off debts, and so Mama just gave the people what they wanted.

I checked wikipedia and apparently Hitch picked Day himself because he liked her work in "Storm Warning". The studio didn't like that idea and wanted him to cast Grace Kelly, Kim Novak or Lana Turner instead.

So it looks like it was the exact opposite situation as with Torn Curtain where he had to cast both Julie Andrews and Paul Newman against his will.

Too bad the Academy hasn't honored Doris. She has a grandson who sells real estate in Carmel Valley where she lives- he could accept on her behalf.

I don't blame her for not appearing. No one wants another Mary Pickford strapped to a sofa.

Classy lady.

I can imagine why the Widow Edwards was forced on him (she turned straw into box-office and Oscar gold, even if time has revealed it to be fool's gold), but he really didn't want Paul Newman either?

R66, apparently her grandson is penning a grandma dearest book about her.

Calamity Jane is hugely entertaining.

Didn't Doris get her start on film replacing someone who was pregnant?Or was it that MGM refused to lend Judy Garland for a movie?

Doris always had a stunning figure, like a runway model. Designers must have loved creating outfits for her.

Bob Hope gave Doris a big break on his radio show in the 40s. She had to pay for it with nature's credit card, unfortunately.

[quote]She started out as a singer

Actually, she started out as a DANCER, but due to injuries, she started singing, and that's how she rose to prominence.

Betty Hutton had been originally cast in ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS....she got pregnant, and Jule Styne suggested that director Michael Curtiz take a look a Doris. Styne had seen Doris singing at a party a couple of nights before......

What did she and Lucy think of each other?

OP, thanks so much for that picture! I now know how I'll be doing my hair for the State of the Union!

Link re: grandson writing book? Don't believe that- he would get far more from her than any book. His bio at his website talks about her and the hotel she owns.

Well, by all accounts she is a nice woman.

"Doris always had a stunning figure, like a runway model."

Puleeeeze, R70. Doris was too buxom and short.

Doris looked great in clothes, no matter her height.

R79- Exactly.

I read they were estranged. Perhaps he wanted money and she didn't give it to him?

Close to her son but does not speak to her grandson.

She was also known to have a whim of iron. She went toe to toe with Grant on Touch of Mink and won.

She was not all peaches and cream. You can't be and have the career she had. You have to work too hard to let things slide.

But I find her 60s stuff unwatchable except for about 2 films. Daisies has a couple of funny moments but on the whole it is a stinker and very typical of what she ended up doing. But it's one of those films of hers that people love so it's a case of what the hell do I know.

I wish she had done Pajama Game with Keel or Macrae. Raitt is totally out of her league. Also Maclaine should have done Carol(face made for radio)Haney's role. Best part of film is not hers anyway or Steam Heat, it's the blissful unshowey soft shoe of Reta and Eddie. And the camera just follows them. No ridiculous headache inducing editing.

R76, apparently the grandson, Ryan, is somewhat estranged from Doris because of the mom, Jackie Carlin, who divorced Doris's son. The book is speculation but very possible.

Funny about John Raitt. When I was a kid in the 1950s and he appeared on TV I thought he was hunky and handsome. But in retrospect I see he didn't have movie star looks like Howard Keel.

[quote]Doris looked great in clothes, no matter her height.

She did. And there are some scenes, like this one from Pillow Talk, where she was stunning.

R59 I liked Jackie Joseph who appeared on the last 2 seasons of The Doris Day Show. She was ditzy and funny in her own way.

R85 That's Billy de Wolfe, a gay actor, who appeared in some of Doris's movies (as well as others) and a number of her TV shows.

Doris listened to her ugly husband too much and missed great roles. She is fantastic and versatile. Helen Mirren's favorite actress, she said Doris is under rated and never reached her full potential.

I loved her sitcom and about half her movies. Romance and Man Who are great.

When I first arrived in Los Gay Angeles, I was at a K Mart in the Valley. Looking behind me, it was Doris Day in line behind me, Said to my boyfriend quietly, Look behind me...Doris Day. I did not bother her, as I do not do that. She grinned and those freckles gave her away.

R84 Doris is dancing with Nick Adams who probably became best known for his tv show The Rebel (1959-61.) He was a very familiar face in many movies and tv shows of the 50s and early 60s. He's an interesting character who grew up in a PA coal mining family who ended up in Jersey City. A chance encounter with Jack Palance sort of jump started his career but he was a very driven, ambitious, self-promoter who became close to James Dean, Sal Mineo and Elvis, among many others. He was in a lot of iconic films, including Rebel Without A Cause, where he and Dean became friends.

He always struck me as a sort of hot mess when I watched him in The Rebel or other films or tv shows. He seemed too intense, like a train wreck in the making. But looking back, he was a kid from rank poverty who wanted to make sure he always had money in his pocket, was deeply insecure, probably bi or gay in that closeted era, and intensely wanted to make it in show business no matter what - we'll, too intense would have been what it took for a guy like him to make it as he did.

WELL not "we'll." Yes, here's one more vote for an edit option on DL. I know I typed well not we'll in that last sentence. wtf.

[quote]But looking back, he was a kid from rank poverty who wanted to make sure he always had money in his pocket, was deeply insecure, probably bi or gay in that closeted era,

Hi, R88. There was a DL thread about Nick Adams a few years ago. As I recall, "bi or gay" did seem to be the consensus. He had a pretty minor role in Pillow Talk, but I thought he was darn cute dancing with Doris.

Nick Adams = horse cocked hustler Friends included James Dean, Natalie Wood & Robert Wagner, Robert Conrad, and Elvis

Without Doris, we'd never have had this.

If Betty Hutton hadn't gotten knocked up, there might have never been a Doris Day film.

I wonder if Hutton ever thought of that. She didn't get on well with any of her kids.

I am madly in love with Doris Day. I could listen to her sing a song everyday. And I think that she was excellent when she could be, hard working when the film was crap. And I think her best performances are over looked. Someone mentioned " Storm Warning"- she gives the best performance in the film. She's great in " Pillow Talk", but in " Lover Come Back" she is excellent. And she has an excellent, intelligent rapture with David Niven that produces great chemistry in " Please Don't Eat the Dasies"- wish they had made another smart film together. And I could watched " Pajama Game" anytime. The talent in that film was overwhelming!

- And she stood by her friend- she loves animals and had an excellent relationship with her son in the long run.

R92 Great clip from her comedy movie, The Glass Bottom Boat.

Not trying to derail this thread, but Nick Adams was a good friend of Rona Barrett, the "Gossip Queen" of the 70s. In her biography she claimed was was convinced he would be one of the biggest stars, but never really quite made it. She said that he fell in with "a group of salacious homosexuals. Fags can be evil as straights, and this group enjoyed catering to his neuroses, telling him he WAS a superstar. They were like vampires getting their kicks sapping the goodness of his soul. They fed him back with their own poisons." Barrett said that Adams eventually came to hate his wife after being poisoned by the woman hating homos. Obviously Rona Barrett was not exactly a fan of gays.

OP, don't you have something better to do, like pulling the wings off flies?

She was godawful in MIDNIGHT LACE & JULIE! The breakdown scene in the former film is kiki worthy one hundred times over!

Doris was great in almost everything she was in. Her "dramas" usually are overwrought. Whether that is the fault of her ability or her material is up for discussion. Good comedians are hard to find so perhaps it's better she stuck to that.

Doris' forte was comedy and musicals, but she was great in "Love Me Or Leave Me" and especially in "The Man Who Knew Too Much". I'm amazed how she is able to hold her own against acting powerhouses Cagney and Stewart.

But her 1960s movies were pretty god awful, except for snippets of hot as hell half naked leading men.

Then there was Jack Lemmon in that train movie

R96 Rona Barrett was basically in love with herself and yes, she was very homophobic back in the day.

R83, but Raitt was a much better singer than Keel.

R101 That was It Happened to Jane with Jack Lemmon, not one of her or his best films. Ernie Kovacs was amusing, however.

Perhaps the worst movie Doris made was Tunnel of Love, mainly because co-star Richard Widmark was not believable as a romantic leading man.

She did great physical comedy. For examples, find the couple of episodes she did on her TV show with her old friend BIlly Be Wolfe. Laugh out loud funny.

Doris was quoted as saying that she had the most fun working with James Cagney and Gordon MacRae .

R81 -

[quote] She went toe to toe with Grant on Touch of Mink and won.

What's the story about Doris and Grant on "That Touch of Mink"?

R84 R90 I agree! Nick was very cute and appealing in that dance scene.

R105 The old Streisand ultimatum of having the better side of your face filmed.

Day and Grant had the same better side so conversations were tough unless you both wanted to have them all the time gazing at the moon.

Day got all of them except one. She walked in and saw the taxi cab scene being set up and she saw where her stand in was. She said nothing but went straight to her trailer. When Grant came in he was called to her dressing room. He was there for an hour and nobody knows what was said. The positions were changed.

[quote]Day and Grant had the same better side so conversations were tough unless you both wanted to have them all the time gazing at the moon.

That's so funny to hear, because to us mere mortals ...no matter what side of their face.....they were both so unearthly beautiful.

Doris was amazing. This scene alone shows her intense focus and discipline. Other actresses would choose to play it cross-eyed......

It Happened To Jane was odd, quirky fun. I like it because though it's definitely in her lesser category of films, it's somewhat un-self-conscious fun because of that. I love Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovaks (man, did he die far too soon) so that sways me to enjoy it. Somehow Doris is very enjoyable in that less than stellar film; for me it is so much because those two stellar male comedic actors bookend her so well in the film.

I always thought she was overwrought in her dramas, even "Love Me or Leave Me." But if you want to see her underplayed comic brilliance, just watch the first scene of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies."

Love Me or Leave Me was ruined by its costume design. More than any other Hollywood film I can think of, the dresses in this one are so far off the mark historically, the entire enterprise is laughable. And this was for an audience that actually remembered Ruth Etting.

Was it considered lazy of MGM back then to re-use Shakin' the Blues Away when it had been so famously employed by Ann Miller in Easter Parade just a few years earlier?

Admittedly, Doris' version is wonderful but still not as great or memorable as Ann's. Was it actually originally sung by Ruth Etting?

Yes it was r113.

I don't know if that one was the most period incorrect or not r112. But you just kind of have to let that go as there are SO many others that just went oldie-timie contemporary. Even on Broadway. Here's Ethel in her "period" Rose's Turn frock.

Ruth's origunal.

Shake it Ruth...

Interesting that as early as 1947, they cleaned up the lyrics.

"Do like the voodoos do listenin' to a voodoo melody"

Though made at MGM, "Love Me or Leave Me" has Warner's grit with its casting of Cagney and Doris (her first film after leaving Warners).

Too bad Doris Day wasn't the star of MAME. In 1973, like Lucille Ball, Day also had a sitcom -- but Day could sing!

Doris was right for neither Dolly nor Mame. She would have been perfection as Miss Forbush.

Why was she not in " South Pacific " - she would have changed the whole history of the movie. May have yielded her an Oscar nomination!

Agreed. She would have been wildly wrong for Dolly and Mame.

She would've made a fantastic Mrs. Robinson, however. But she probably knew how important her image. Maybe it was for the best that she declined.

Had she done The Graduate, she would have won the Oscar.

I still say her not playing Mrs. Robinson was Hollywood's biggest miss. I She would have been so perfect for that role. She wouldn't do the nude scenes, which were hardly necessary for the movie.

Albert Brooks wrote "Mother" for her, she turned it down.

From our vantage point in 2018, it is impossible to understand the competing pressures in the 1960's felt by Hollywood stars with established images as the U.S. went through massive cultural upheaval. Looking back on The Graduate, sure Doris should have jumped at the film. But in 1966, when it was in production it would have been a much, much harder choice to make. Doris would have been taken to task viciously for months by movie magazines, women's magazines, and on television by the likes of Fulton Sheen and Art Linkletter.

Mrs. Robinson easily squares with Anne Bancroft's career. It is a complete contrast to anything that Doris did. Was it within her acting ability? Yes. Was it within the scope of her career? No, not at all. She could have played Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate, too. It would not have taxed her talent, but it would have screwed up her career.

Doris wasn't a whore! Anne......

Mrs. Robinson could've added an entirely different look to the latter part of her career, had she done it and done it well (which I have no doubt she would), it would've been much easier for her to transition into the new American cinema of the 1970s. Instead of being stuck doing a pedestrian, dated (even at the time) sitcom. Doubt that she cared, though...

In 1966 I think most people still had no idea what changes were ahead for society.

Day was still top 10 box office... why do "The Graduate" and risk it, when the next sparkling comedy might come along.

Like the sparkling The Ballad of Josie!

Looking NOT younger than Springtime in Josie.....

I think all of you who think Doris could have pulled off Mrs. Robinson are out of your minds! She was simply too sunny for such a dark character.

Maybe.....just maybe, she would have been interesting in The Manchurian Candidate. Could the character have a sort of Pat Nixon steeliness? But even there, could she have summoned up the meanness and the anger?

It is said that R/H wanted to hear Doris sing for South Pacific, but Marty said "No, she doesn't audition...."

So without her even knowing it, she lost out on a great opportunity.....she would have been much better than Mitzi Gaynor. Although Mitzi has said that director Joshua Logan gave her line readings for all of her dialog - maybe that's why she's so bad, she's Josh Logan as Nellie Forbush.

Josh Logan was Nellie. That's for sure.

In Josie you can see her attempts at seduction are far more blatant than Mrs. Robinson's were.

R112" LMOLM was ruined by its costume design."

I checked, and, yes,indeed, the infamous Helen Rose was responsible.

Although I still think Doris would have been the perfect Mrs R, I would add that Frankenheimer begged Lucille Ball to play Mrs. Iselin in the Manchurian Candidate. Another against character role; I think she would have been excellent.

In 1961, she was too busy getting her squeaky clean white pussy stretched out by LA Dodger's Maury Wills' big black "bat" to give a fuck about acting. Her close friend Rock Hudson said she never recovered emotionally after she and WIlls split up. This was the beginning of the end for Miss Day, as she seemed to have "given up on life" after he left her. Evidently, Wills was involved with several white female actresses around that time including Tippi Hedren and Grace Kelly. He really got around evidently.

Doris Day's singing voice was internationally famous by the time of South Pacific casting, and Nellie Forbush's songs were squarely within Doris' vocal range.

For goodness sakes, Cloris Leachman replaced Mary Martin on Broadway.

I find it very hard to believe Rodgers would have required a singing audition from Doris. An acting audition......maybe!

Not sure r139, but I believe Cloris replaced somebody who replaced somebody who replaced Mary.

Pre-perm Cloris.......

Day was such a huge star it would have been Doris Day in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

I bet Rodgers didn't like the billing on such a momentous event roadshow picture. Even Oklahoma put its stars underneath the title.

Also a star of Day's rank didn't have to audition.

It would be like expecting Cruise to audition for an action picture.

Well, perhaps on second thought, Richard Rodgers was so burned by mega-star Frank Sinatra quitting the film of Carousel on the first day of shooting, he was wary of mega-stars.

Some candid photos of Doris and Cary Grant from the That Touch of Mink shoot.

Back before The Graduate was released, and they were just casting it, there was no way to know it would become an iconic movie. And it wasn't as if Dustin Hoffman was a huge star.

If they threw in a rollerskating scene, Lucy could've played Mrs. Robinson.

In R84 clip, Nick Adams looks like he is the height of a seven year old -- and not very attractive.

I would imagine Doris Day turned down The Graduate long before Dustin Hoffman was cast.

I would have liked to have seen her in Divorce American Style with Dick Van Dyke.

[italic]The Sound of Music[/italic] still would have been a hit with her as Maria. In fact, I honestly think Christopher Plummer is the glue that holds it all together; without him I don't think it would have been anywhere near as big as it became. It was he who worked with Ernest Lehman to ensure that Georg Von Trapp became more than just a one-dimensional martinet, especially when Maria was the hard-ass in real life.

[quote] Why was she not in " South Pacific " - she would have changed the whole history of the movie.

She still would have been the only one who wasn't dubbed.

[quote] I think all of you who think Doris could have pulled off Mrs. Robinson are out of your minds! She was simply too sunny for such a dark character.

If there was one person who would be able to get a tremendous dramatic performance out of Miss Day that would definitely be Mike Nichols - just look at the performances he managed to get out of actresses like Ann Margret, Cher, Natalie Portman, Melanie Griffith, Liz Taylor, Katharine Ross etc. who weren't particularly famous for being "serious" actresses until they worked with him. I think I've read once that he made Liz Taylor rehearse the hell out of her WAOVW role and it was definitely worth it.

I'm pretty sure one of the reason he wanted Day was the sheer shock factor (imagine seeing America's oldest living virgin doing those filthy things on the big screen!) but he probably knew Day could act too, when given the right script and direction.

But I can totally imagine Day clashing with Nichols - unlike her other films, The Graduate was definitely not written as another silly "The Doris Day Hour" romcom. She'd probably have problems with Nichols ordering her around, the lack of costume changes and having someone else sing the songs on the soundtrack.

One wonders whether Marty Melcher was the culprit in costing her more substantial roles.

You really wonder what the fascination is these hard working ambitious intelligent career women have for these loser men who are physically ugly as well.

I was staying at the Cypress Inn back in 2005 (Doris's hotel in Carmel) and was out on the patio with my 2 little dogs.

Was reading the paper, drinking coffee and not paying attention and someone started talking to my dogs. It was Doris! I was literally speechless- and I've been to awards shows, great parties and seen many celebrities.

I think it was the combination of her changed appearance (not that she looked bad) and just growing up with her movies. Doris was just lovely. She sent my dogs 2 beef patties in silver bowls- so cute.

I will always worship her.

[R12] Apparently Doris Day has declined the offer of an honorary Oscar in the past and has a fear of flying so won't attend any ceremony.

Debbie Reynolds kept marrying loser pigs too.

"the Graduate" would have been a good test of how far she could go beyond her comfort zone. Mrs. Robinson is an emotionally brittle woman in an unhappy marriage with a drinking problem.. Although Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson have the most prominent parts, it's essentially more of an ensemble cast than her other stuff--no Thelma Ritter playing off of her. The humor is very ironic and deadpan.

The talk of DD as Mrs. Robinson got me to thinking of other image-shattering roles she could have taken on later in the game.

Imagine if she was lured out of retirement to play Mrs. Voorhees, Jason's mother, in Friday the 13th. I can absolutely imagine her in Betsy Palmer's cable-knit sweater hacking up horny camp counselors.

Her character is a late entrant to the film, essentially in a single action-packed scene, so I think she could have done the entire shoot in a couple of days. It would have been movie magic.

You take that back r147!

Doris wouldn't need to fly to LA- it's a 6 hour drive.

I think Doris Day stands a good chance of being the last big star standing from old Hollywood. I would be surprised if Kirk Douglas or Olivia De Havilland outlived her.

"I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin" -- Oscar Levant

Well r150, I'm thinking Dell thought Doris was going to get the role when they came out with their paperback of Maria's book.

I wonder why they don't give her the honorary Oscar at her house and televise it. They could even do it somewhere in her hotel if there's more space.

I don't believe it's that she won't accept it, I believe she just won't leave Carmel.

Does she still do a radio broadcast on her birthday?

I heard she's a secret carpet muncher

Didn't they do that for Myrna Loy, r164? I think they built up a lot of hoopla around it, and then all she said was, "Thank you." At least as I recall it.

She won't accept, and that's the end if it.

She doesn't want it r164.....

She'll accept. She accepted the Golden Globe special award in 1989.

That was 1989. She was younger then, and she had just done a TV show for CBN.

[quote]She would have been perfection as Miss Forbush.

Could she have done Annie Oakley? I mean Calamity Jane was sort of a low-budget version of the same genre.

[quote] She still would have been the only one who wasn't dubbed.

Ahem

She did a studio recording with Mr. Goulet r171.......

Anything You Can Do......

Doris enjoys being a girl!

That "Best Friends" show was a mess. I remember how in one segment Doris went to interview Joan Fontaine and barely even managed to pretend she was listening to Joan's yapping. And then Joan (the pompous ass that she was) proceeded to tell Doris how she has to thank her for having a career in the first place or something like that, which made Doris bulge her eyes out.

Does anyone have that clip?

I had that Annie Get Your Gun album when I was a kid and listened to it constantly.

Imagine my surprise when I became a grown up theatre queen and first heard Ethel Merman sing the score as Irving Berlin intended it!!

So it was Doris and Kaye like Julie and Carol?

There is always the femme and the butch.

Rodgers didn't ask her to audition.....he asked Marty to have Doris sing at a party.....Marty said no.....Doris didn't even know about it. Marty used the word "audition", not Rodgers. I think she talks about it on her TCM voiceover when they did a bumper about her movie career.....

R176 Here you go. It's not really as bad as you made it sound but Miss Fontaine really was pretty full of herself. And Doris looked great here. This must have been filmed shortly after she had her facelift.

I think a part of the public's affection for Doris is that she got out on her own terms.

Unlike many of the other actresses of what might be termed Hollywood's Golden Age, she clearly had a life outside of show biz. She was not so desperate to "work" as those who kept on keeping on way past the date they should have.

Olivia is another of those.

Don't most people want to know that their senior years would be positive ones, rather than, as some actresses have done, producing grotesque parodies of their younger selves?

Good for you, Doris.

Enjoy Your Life.

SHE'S SQUARE AND SHE HAS BAD TASTE!

She probably feels that an Honorary Oscar is patronising considering the Academy never recoginsed her when she was working.

r181, I am thankful that Olivia de Havilland kept on working.

Otherwise, DL would not have this.

Thank goodness Doris didn't do any horror films.

If of course you discount Where Were You When the Lights Went Out.

Doris got 'stretched' by Willy Mays!

[quote] SHE'S SQUARE AND SHE HAS BAD TASTE!

She's not the one who has to answer for [italic]Trog[/italic], [italic]Wicked Stepmother[/italic], or any of the lesser disaster movies of Irwin Allen (i.e. the ones that were so bad, even Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn wouldn't write love songs for them!).

R187 I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. I think those 6 six movies Doris was forced to do by her hubby are worse than any hag horror Bette or Joan ever did. At least those are entertaining, in a car wreck sort of way, while Doris' movies like "Where Were You When The Lights Went Out" don't have a single redeeming feature. OK, I'm lying - I did like the cheesy theme song in WWYWTLWO, which surprisingly wasn't sung by Doris.

Doris also admitted she hated doing those movies herself in her ghost-written autobiography.

Decades ago, the Wildwood bar on Columbus was second home to a crazy queen who had the "real" scoop on Hollywood stars. He c claimed after Doris left "legit' films, she made 'artistic' porno films outdoors in the Mojave desert.

I hope she used plenty of sunscreen r189, she certainly didn't need any more freckles!

Marty Melcher probably cost her [italic]South Pacific[/italic].

I don't think the Annie songs fit her voice very well. They were written for a belt. Doris had a big band/jazz style. Little to no vibrato, more head voice like June Christie and Anita O'Day.

I used to watch the Doris Day show on TV in the early 70's. I don't recall the episode, but the story goes, she once brought her old friend Peter Lawford on the show to guest star. Probably out of pity since he hadn't worked in years save for a game show now and then. Sadly, by this point, after a life of heavy partying, his brain was so ravaged by drugs and alcohol he couldn't remember his lines. The producers jumped in and made the writers give him just one or two words to say and he could still barely remember them. They somehow got through through shooting his parts after a multitude of takes. I'm sure Doris was saddened and maybe a bit embarrassed for the trouble her decision to bring him on the show caused for the production despite her good intentions.

[quote] I don't think the Annie songs fit her voice very well. They were written for a belt. Doris had a big band/jazz style. Little to no vibrato, more head voice like June Christie and Anita O'Day.

Would she have taken the role of Miss Hannigan if they had asked her? Playing a villain would have given her that kind of challenge and it could have restarted her acting career anew.

Oh goodness, r194!

Peter Lawford is a DL thread in himself. Has he ever had one? From young MGM god to pathetic overaged hippie.

Peter Lawford's godawful toupee deserves its own thread too:

She did stretch herself as an actress. She played a pert and prim blonde whose best color was pink in some movies, and in other movies she played a pert and prim blonde whose best color was blue.

[quote]Don't most people want to know that their senior years would be positive ones, rather than, as some actresses have done, producing grotesque parodies of their younger selves?

A girl has got to pay the bills, dahling

By many accounts of those who worked with her, such as Norman Jewison, she was insecure as an actress. She had absolutely no training in acting and had learnt on the job. Her likability and generally real reactions to film situations usually carried the day (no pun intended). Apparently that insecurity continues because, even at her present age, most accounts indicate that she is genuinely surprised at the continuing interest in her, her music and films.

Was it Andre Previn who wrote in his book that Miss Day once had members of orchestra who were wearing black shirts thrown from the studio where they were recording an album together? Apparently she REALLY hated black shirts for some reason.

That's the only nasty diva story I've ever heard about her.

Doesn't she call into right wing radio shows and parrot the #MAGA Ronald Reagan BS?

Yeah, Doris not doing South Pacific is probably right up there with Julie Andrews not doing My Fair Lady in my opinion.. a shame, as both would have been great additional hallmarks to their careers

I'm sure if Richard Rodgers wanted Doris Day in South Pacific she would have been in it.

Richard Rodgers wanted to be in Doris Day more than he wanted Doris Day to be in South Pacific.

r193 Peter Lawford had a recurring role as her doctor/boyfriend and was in 8 episodes, so your story seems to be full of misinformation.

R194, Doris would have been about as rotten as Miss Hannigan as Carol Burnett was in the role.

Now... if Liz Taylor had put on her old Virginia Woolf wig and one of Dorothy Loudon's Hannigan costumes, just add a bottle of scotch and she would have been GREAT kicking all those little girls.

Holy fuck, Liz as Miss Hannigan would have been incredible.

WHOA - I swear there was a post here in this thread that talked about 2 actresses who allegedly slept with everyone to get parts - now I cannot find it = one name as Shirley Jones, oddly enough - who was the other actress?

She should have been nominated for an Oscar for "Love Me or Leave Me"--that was the best serious work she ever did.

She tended to overact usually when she did serious roles (as in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" or "Midnight Lace"), but "Love Me or Leave Me" was the rare time she was excellent in a serious part. She was often fine in comic parts, but they didn't have the same heft.

r209, do you think acting opposite Jimmy Cagney helped get the best out of DD?

It's my favorite of all his performances.

Doris really wanted to be a dancer, but I think an early accident stifled that dream.

Even so, she does a good job opposite Gene Nelson in "Lullaby of Broadways" along with other Warner Brothers musicals during those early years of her movie career.

There are more than one dancing clip of Doris on Youtube. Here's "Somebody Loves Me" from Lullaby of Broadway.

R208 I remember that post too. Are you sure it was in this thread? There were 3 women referenced - Shirley Jones, Jessica Lange and ??? (The subject of the thread was not named but implied.)

Would love to see a biography of her early like. She was physically abused by one of her husbands when she was pregnant.

^ Dame Judith Anderson.

She was even on her knees even for the role in Star Trek.

[quote] [R209], do you think acting opposite Jimmy Cagney helped get the best out of DD?

Yes, I think that's the major reason.

Also, she got to not just act but also sing some wonderful songs, including the title song and "Ten Cents a Dance" and "Shakin' the Blues Away." The latter is my favorite number she ever did in a movie--it's staged so nicely, and she gets to show off her great body.

R200, she did some recordings with, I think, only Previn s piano that were wonderful.

[quote] R193 Peter Lawford had a recurring role as her doctor/boyfriend and was in 8 episodes, so your story seems to be full of misinformation.

Whoa, R193 totally busted! Lol.

[quote][R200], she did some recordings with, I think, only Previn s piano that were wonderful.

That album is fantastic. Here's "Wait Till You See Him," one of the nicest songs. (But it's hard to choose, as they're all great.)

The scene where she tells Cagney there's no way she can pay him for what he's given her and he says 'oh isn't there?' and attempts to force himself on her is certainly resonant for today. And I understand they had to edit it to make it less violent but it's pretty shocking none the less.

Debbie Reynolds is so perfect in Mother. I can't imagine Day, as much as I love her, doing that part justice.

Doris was 'stretched' by Willy Mays!

[quote] Holy fuck, Liz as Miss Hannigan would have been incredible.

Except for a little movie called [italic]A Little Night Music[/italic], which wasn't so incredible.

[quote][R194], Doris would have been about as rotten as Miss Hannigan as Carol Burnett was in the role.

So not rotten at all basically?

Desiree Armfeldt relates to Miss Hannigan exactly how?

MIDNIGHT LACE is gonna be on TCM tonight (at 10:15 PM).

Doris with her old nose! She had one of the best nose jobs in Old Hollywood done.

When did she have the nose done? She has the new one in her first movie.

Doris Day was Mike Nichol’s first choice for Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. She turned him down. Though it would ruin her wholesome image. He gave the part to Anne Bancroft.

I think she was conservative. Both in her ideas and in protecting her “image.” In retrospect we can say she missed an iconic part. But she knew her audience wanted to see her as the wholesome, girl next door.

I find it very odd that Mike Nichols went from Doris Day to Anne Bancroft. Whatever you think of either casting choices, the two actresses couldn't have been more different.

He realized he would have to look at whores to cast the part.

Mr. Nichols was obviously capable of thinking both inside and outside the box r299........

There is a similarity in the velvety voice. Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson sort of sounds like a jaded, cunning Doris Day.

Doris never had to reduce herself to smut.

Her nose looks the same to me.

I think she definitely had her nose thinned. Nothing too drastic but the nose she has in her early movies looks somewhat different.

That could be just lighting and angle, R235, Her nose looks the same in this early pic.

I told Mr. Nichols “If you’re lookin’ for someone to play an old whore, then I’m your gal!”. He never returned my call.

Doris' dad caused quite a scandal back in the day when he married a woman of color. Apparently Doris wasn't happy about that (even though she was rumored to love black cocks herself).

He married Aunt Esther?

I read somewhere she turned Nurse Ratchett in Cuckoo’s Nest as well.

^turned down the role of..

I forgot to mention that Day's parents divorced because her father cheated on her mom when Doris was still in her early teens. There are also no photos of Doris with her dad around so I'm guessing they weren't on best terms. Marrying a black woman was probably just the final straw.

But I do love this pic of Doris with her other family members. It's funny how they all had to stand behind her.

She was too busy stretching...her butthole?

R242 I read Doris's autobiography and she didn't have anything against her father marrying a black woman. In fact she met her father and his (black) wife at her home one day.

What she didn't like was that her father was not faithful to her mother and they finally had to divorce.

You mean biography, R244, not autobiography, right?

I seem to remember her saying that he had started out as a racist years before so she was delighted that he had evolved and married a black woman.

Doris as "Mrs. Robinson" would have been interesting. Too bad Gary Morton talked her out of it -- saying there was no way to work in a scene where Mrs. Robison models during a fashion show.

(Yes, when Doris's own husband, who was also known for bad career advice, died, Doris came rely on Lucy's husband, who was even better at giving bad career advice.)

Here's the infamous interview Barbara Walters did with Doris. I love that part where Doris advises young women to have premarital sex. I can't imagine how shocked 1970's fraus were to hear their favorite onscreen virgin talk like that.

If only Doris had replaced Judy when she tanked during Valley of the Dolls. Imagine what Doris could have done with "I'll Plant My Own Tree" and a plexiglass mobile.

Here's the second part in which Barbara gets pretty annoyed by Doris. Doris was promoting her "autobiography" here but it's obvious that she doesn't even know the contents of the book very well.

R248 What a strange manner of dress and that hat for this interview.

[quote] Imagine what Doris could have done with "I'll Plant My Own Tree" and a plexiglass mobile.

Doris was known to be quite a perfectionist so at least she would have someone wipe the filthy fingerprints off the mobile.

R55,He's lucky he didn't fall off that banister and crack his crown!

R218 is one of those recordings made before they had figured out how to use two channels.

She really skirts the question "Did you have affairs with black men?" in R248 clip, doesn't she?

Barbara Walters was the worst television journalist of all time until we got CNN and msnbc.

That interview is pretty funny. It's as if she never read her own book -- and recalls nothing of the interviews she gave the author.

I do love how she wants to be all sugar when asked about people, only to have Barbara said, "That's not what you said in the book!"

I've recently been getting into Doris as a singer, and to me she is underrated. She had a great bluesy quality when she was singing standards like "Sentimental Journey" and "Shakin' the Blues Away" vs. perky pap like "Que Sera Sera." She's said that she tried to pattern her singing style after Ella Fitzgerald's.

She was offered the lead in Sounder but turned it down.

I adore Doris but her Christmas album remains painl to listen to - the vibrato is so pronounced and ON PURPOSE it ruins every song.

Just watched her in "Midnight Lace" from TMC . She plays a woman being stalked. I thought it would be cheesy but boy Doris was fantastic. She was nominated for the Golden Globe but she was robbed of an Oscar nomination. Sad to think Elizabeth Taylor won for the ridiculous "Butterfield 8"

She ended her movie career in the film With Six You Get Eggroll playing a woman her own age and had sparkling scenes with her male co-star Brian Keith. A light, realistic comedy, not silly fluff.

Mamie Van Doren, who worked with Day said "she's not like the characters she plays." She sure wasn't! But then fans always think an actor's persona is really what they are in real life and of course that isn't true. Doris Day was no virgin and no little Miss Sunshine.

R262 That was also the film debut of Barbara Seagull.

Doris was always good at physical comedy.

I've always seen the drunk scene in "That Touch of Mink" to be very funny.

[quote]R249 If only Doris had replaced Judy when she tanked during Valley of the Dolls. Imagine what Doris could have done with "I'll Plant My Own Tree" and a plexiglass mobile.

Although she never played an unpleasant character in her life...so that was beyond her.

It's like saying, "Imagine how great Thelma Ritter would have been in MUSICALS...if she could sing and dance!!!"

R237 , I think you are confusing her With Ava Gardner, who also , wanted The part.

I still can't believe that I read in Etta James' autobiography that Doris and Sly Stone were an item.

R261. Hogwash. Day's clothes in the silly MIDNIGHT LACE are better than her okay-ish performance.

[quote]That was also the film debut of Barbara Seagull.

I met Barbara Hershey and told I had been a fan since a kid when I saw her in "With Six You get Eggroll", not a bad little comedy with a cast like Day, Brian Kieth, George Carlin and Pat Carroll. She actually rolled her eyes.

R270 What a cunt! Next time tell her that you enjoyed seeing her getting gang-banged and flashing her titties to Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ. Maybe that will make her happy.

R270 That's sad to hear. I love Miss Hershey but she has always struck me as a very cold and humorless person who considers herself to be a great artiste.

She rolled her eyes?! BITCH!

I liked the pairing of Doris with Brian Keith in "With Six You Get Eggroll".

Attractive people of a similar age. And Doris, a widow, is running the business after her husband died. She is smart and confident and busy. A good role model for women of that age.

CAPRICE looks like it is a horrible film. Doris should not have gotten so much sun.

"Oh, Miss Hershey, I've loved you since I was a little boy! "

[quote] CAPRICE looks like it is a horrible film.

Caprice IS a horrible film. Worse than you can imagine. And worse again than that.

Story is Doris read the script and said to her husband "Boy, am I glad I don't have to do this junk." And he said, "Yes, you do."

Worse than WWYWTLWO?

I don't think so.

Barbara Seagull rolled her eyes at me, too.

[quote] but got an Oscar for one of her few A pictures which had a goo director & script and a strong cast.

Why couldn't I have a goo director??!!

What was it about Doris and all the tanning in her later years?! I've never seen her show but in all the clips and photostills she looks positively orange. Was this a popular look back then or did she think a darker complexion is gonna help her hide all the wrinkles on her face?

Barbara, I saw you in Beaches. What did you do to your fucking lips?

"Miss Herzstein, I loved you in that movie where you get fucked by a ghost...Can I have your autograph?"

That explains it. A Jewess.

Ummm

Because she wasn’t an “actress”.

She was an entertainer.

She was excruciating when she tried to “act”.

The most fabulous 5 seconds in TV history - overly tanned Doris coming down the spiral staircase, immediately followed by the legendary TRIPLE ZOOM on her face.

I'm pretty sure the opening titles of her TV show turned thousands of small boys gay.

r286 wow, she looks [italic] very [/italic] oompa-loompa!!

And the zooms might give me a seizure.

[quote]What was it about Doris and all the tanning in her later years?! I've never seen her show but in all the clips and photostills she looks positively orange. Was this a popular look back then or did she think a darker complexion is gonna help her hide all the wrinkles on her face?

It wasn't a tan as much as make-up. Most people don't know her face is covered in freckles.

[quote]Miss Herzstein, I loved you in that movie where you get fucked by a ghost...Can I have your autograph?"

I actually have the blu-ray steelcase signed by her! It has her nude in the inside and I said "Don't open it it" and she laughed and said "I've seen it!"

I asked if she was named after the Hershey Highway and the bitch was rude!

Yea R281 It was a look. Doris was lucky to get out of the business before the white highlighter around the eye area swept through town.

Doris Day in Caprice, the movie that she did NOT want to do, but her husband had power of attorney and already signed on the dotted line for her to do it. Husky, handsome Richard Harris was her male co-star.

The fashion clothes for Caprice were extremely mod and almost over the top.

Hanging from an overhead terrace in Caprice which was a spy spoof.

Doris had great chemistry with Rose Marie who co-starred on her show for a couple of seasons.

R291, I think that's Evelyn Kuhn, one of my faves.

R286, And still does today, thanks to reruns and the DVD boxed set.

Doris on with Johnny in 1974, just after her breast implants, braless and both nipples at attention.

She's dead

Shut up R299!

Seems she didn't want to make a lot of pictures. If it weren't for her husband she'd have been a housewife.

Wow the swinging 70's, she really was hanging out.