Doris Day's Personal Life

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff; April 3, 1924) is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", in 1945. After leaving the Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records. Recording more than 650 songs, the contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, becoming Day's only recording label and one of the label's greatest recording stars. In 1948, after being persuaded by Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and her agent at the time, Al Levy, she auditioned for a part to Michael Curtiz, which led to her the lead in Romance on the High Seas, her first film.
With a legendary Hollywood "girl-next-door" image and capable of delivering comedy, romance as well as heavy drama, she appeared in 39 films, recorded 28 albums and spent 460 weeks in the Top 40 charts . She also received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Pillow Talk, won a Golden Globe, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Legend Award from the Society of Singers, and, in 1989, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
As an dedicated animal rights advocate for more than 30 years, she began realizing work for the animals welfare in the set of some of her movies. But Day really started her strong commitment with the animal rights in 1971, co-founding the "Actors and Others for Animals". In the late 70's, she started her own non-profit organization, the Doris Day Animal Foundation and, later, the Doris Day Animal League. Establishing the annual observance Spay Day USA in 1994, The Doris Day Animal League is now partnered with the Humane Society of the United States and continues to be a leading advocacy organization. In 2004, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in recognition of her distinguished service to the country. President Bush recognized Miss Day's work on behalf of the animals by saying, "It was a good day for our fellow creatures when she gave her good heart to the cause of animal welfare."
Being the biggest box-office star in four years (1960; 1962; 1963; 1964) and being in the top ten for ten years (1951-1952; 1959-1966), Day become the top-ranking female box-office star of all time and ranked sixth among the top ten box office performers (male and female), as of 2009.

n 1975, Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, an "as-told-to" work with A. E. Hotchner. The book detailed her first three marriages:

• To Al Jorden, a trombonist whom she first met when he was in Barney Rapp's Band, from March 1941 to 1943. Her only child, son Terry Melcher, was born from this marriage. Jorden, who was reportedly physically abusive to Day, committed suicide in 1967 by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
• To George Weidler (a saxophonist), from March 30, 1946 to May 31, 1949. Weidler, the brother of actress Virginia Weidler, and Day met again several years later. During a brief reconciliation, he helped her become involved in Christian Science.
• To Martin Melcher, whom she married on April 3, 1951. This marriage lasted far longer than her first two. Melcher adopted Terry (thus renaming the boy Terry Melcher), and produced many of Day's movies. After her autobiography was published, Day married one last time.
• Her fourth and last marriage was to Barry Comden, who was roughly a decade younger, from April 14, 1976 until 1981. Comden was her first husband from outside of show business. Comden was the maitre d' at one of Day's favorite restaurants. Knowing of her great love of dogs, Comden endeared himself to Day by giving her a bag of meat scraps and bones on her way out of the restaurant. When this marriage unraveled, Comden complained that Day cared more for her "animal friends" than she did for him. Comden died on May 25, 2009, aged 74.

While promoting the book, Day caused a stir by rejecting the "girl next door" and "virgin" labels so often attached to her. As she remarked in her book, "The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's highly publicized comment about my virginity ('I knew Doris Day before she became a virgin.') contributed to what has been called my 'image', which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image." Day said she believed people should live together prior to marriage, something that she herself would do if the opportunity arose. At the conclusion of this book tour, Day seemed content to focus on her charity and pet work and her business interests. (In 1985, she became part-owner with her son of the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California.)
In May 1983, she became a grandmother. In 1985 she briefly hosted her own talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends on CBN. Despite the worldwide publicity her show received, it was canceled after 26 episodes. Terry Melcher first made a brief attempt to become a surf music singing star, then became a staff producer for Columbia Records in the 1960s, and was famous for producing some latter-day recordings by The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In November 2004, he died from complications of melanoma, aged 62.
Day is a committed Republican.