A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Vigils & tributes to George Floyd one year since his murder ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (CNN) — Doris Day, the box-office queen and singing star whose wholesome, all-American image belied an often-turbulent personal life, has died, her foundation announced Monday. She was 97. The actress passed away early Monday surrounded by a few close friends at her Carmel Valley home in California, according to the Doris Day Animal Foundation. She had just celebrated her 97th birthday last month with nearly 300 fans who gathered in Carmel. Day recently contracted a serious case of pneumonia that resulted in her death, the foundation said. Day was arguably the top female box-office star in Hollywood history, with a No. 1 ranking in 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. She had her first hit as a big-band vocalist during World War II before making nearly 40 movies in the next two decades, reigning supreme at a time when her contemporaries included Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images Doris Day teamed up with Rock Hudson in three romantic comedies in the late '50s and early '60s. Sex comedies such as “Pillow Talk,” “Lover Come Back” and “That Touch of Mink” established her as a sunny but slightly uptight career woman who fought off men’s advances. “My public image is unshakably that of America’s wholesome virgin, the girl next door, carefree and brimming with happiness. An image, I can assure you, more make-believe than any film part I ever played,” Day told A.E. Hotchner in her memoir, “Doris Day: Her Own Story.” Or as one-time co-star Oscar Levant famously joked, “I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.” The chaste screen persona seemed at odds with her private life. She married four times and had a child before she was 20. She described her first husband as a “psychopathic sadist” who beat her. Her second husband told her by letter that he was leaving her after eight months. Husband No. 3 was agent Martin Melcher, who mismanaged her fortune and left her in debt when he died. Her fourth, restaurateur Barry Comden, complained to the press that she kicked him out of bed for her pets. Day also suffered from panic attacks in the early ‘50s, what she later described as “tantamount to a nervous breakdown.” As singer, one of ‘the best in the business’ She was born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati. She dreamed of a career as a dancer until she injured her right leg in a car accident as a teenager. During a long convalescence, she immersed herself in the big-band sounds of Tommy Dorsey and the vocals of Ella Fitzgerald. She soon became a performer on local radio and then joined a swing band. The bandleader feared that her last name, Kappelhoff (“von” had been dropped), was too long for a marquee, so he dubbed her Doris Day after a song of hers, “Day After Day.” “But I never did like it. Still don’t. I think it’s a phony name,” Day said more than 30 years later. Her blonde good looks and smooth, velvety voice ensured that she quickly moved up the musical ranks. As a singer in Les Brown’s band, she scored a hit with “Sentimental Journey,” a defining ballad for servicemen returning from World War II. Brown said later, “I’d say that next to Sinatra, Doris is the best in the business on selling a lyric.” Day would record more than 600 songs and nearly 30 albums, including such hits as “It’s Magic,” “Secret Love,” “Que Sera, Sera” and “Everybody Loves a Lover” and concept albums such as 1956’s “Day by Day” and 1957’s “Day by Night.” As recently as 2011, her album “My Heart” made the UK Top 10. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. Rising star, falling into formula Her singing popularity led to a movie debut in 1948 in “Romance on the High Seas” and a contract at Warner Bros. Her early peak came in the 1953 Western musical “Calamity Jane.” After her contract ended, she entered the most fruitful period of her career, including dramatic parts in “Love Me or Leave Me,” opposite James Cagney, and in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” starring James Stewart. Hulton Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images Day played a dramatic role with James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Day turned almost exclusively to comedies by the late ‘50s. “Pillow Talk” and “Lover Come Back” opposite Rock Hudson and “That Touch of Mink” with Cary Grant cemented her goody-two-shoes reputation, if sometimes unfairly: The films were about Day, usually cast as an independent working woman, resisting her leading man’s charms because she’d been deceived more than to protect her virginity. Though the increasingly formulaic films were successful, they’d prove to be Day’s undoing and make her passé when the counterculture supplanted the “Mad Men” era. In a review of her last film, 1968’s “With Six You Get Eggroll,” Vincent Canby summed up the critical attitude toward Day then, noting that there were “some hints of the very real comic talent that has, over the years, become hermetically sealed inside a lacquered personality, like a butterfly in a Mason jar.” She had a chance to change course when director Mike Nichols offered her the role of Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate,” but the star wasn’t interested. “I could not see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age whom I’d seduced,” she recalled later. “I realized it was an effective part … but it offended my sense of values.” With his wife’s film career in decline due to mediocre movies he initiated, husband Melcher began to explore options on TV despite her opposition. A perfectionist, Day feared the medium’s quick production pace. Melcher died unexpectedly in 1968, leaving Day with a CBS sitcom and in financial straits. Her husband’s reliance on attorney Jerome Rosenthal for business advice proved disastrous: The lawyer went through Day’s millions with bad investments in oil wells, cattle and hotels. Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images Day, with husband and manager Marty Melcher, outside his talent agency in Hollywood, circa 1960. “I don’t know if Marty betrayed me or not. I tend to think he didn’t betray me. I think he loved me,” she told the Los Angeles Times two decades later about her husband’s management. “The Doris Day Show” proved to be a lifesaver. Despite an ever-changing format, it ran for five seasons, gave her financial stability and kept her working as she coped with the loss of her spouse of 17 years. Day sued Rosenthal for mismanagement and won a $20 million-plus verdict in 1974 after years of litigation (she later settled with insurers). Activist for animals By the mid-’70s, she withdrew from the limelight to focus on animal rights and set up the Doris Day Animal League and Doris Day Animal Foundation. In a 2012 interview with “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross, Day admitted that she had about 30 dogs at one point. “All my life, I have never felt lonely with a dog I loved at my side, no matter how many times I’ve been alone,” she said in her memoir. As a staunch advocate for animals, she briefly came out of retirement to host a cable TV pet show called “Doris Day’s Best Friends,” which included an emotional reunion with three-time co-star Hudson shortly before his death in 1985. Perhaps her closest friend, son Terry Melcher, a music producer, died in 2004 at 62. He was survived by his son, Ryan. There was talk of comebacks: She reportedly was offered “Murder, She Wrote” and the Debbie Reynolds role in “Mother” in 1996. But she resisted Hollywood overtures. In 2015, she batted down reports she was to appear in a Clint Eastwood film. During her career and retirement, Day always seemed to adhere to the philosophy of her biggest hit, “Que Sera, Sera,” which she initially opposed as a “kiddie song” but which became her signature tune. “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be; The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera, What will be, will be.” Reaction to her death poured in from Hollywood. Condolences to the family of Doris Day. She was the World’s Sweetheart and beloved by all. ❤️ Que Será, Será!😞 — William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) May 13, 2019 “Condolences to the family of Doris Day,” actor William Shatner tweeted. “She was the World’s Sweetheart and beloved by all. Que Será, Será!”<doc-sep>Share this Story: Legendary actress and singer Doris Day dead at 97 from pneumonia Legendary actress and singer Doris Day dead at 97 from pneumonia Right down to her cheerful, alliterative stage name, she stood for a time of innocence and G-rated love, a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe Photo by Postmedia News Article content LOS ANGELES — Doris Day, the honey-voiced singer and actress whose film dramas, musicals and innocent sex comedies made her a top star in the 1950s and ’60s and among the most popular screen actresses in history, has died. She was 97. The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, California, home. The foundation said she was surrounded by close friends. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Legendary actress and singer Doris Day dead at 97 from pneumonia Back to video “Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death,” the foundation said in an emailed statement. With her lilting contralto, wholesome blonde beauty and glowing smile, she was a top box office draw and recording artist known for such films as “Pillow Talk” and “That Touch of Mink” and for such songs as “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” from the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” But over time, she became more than a name above the title: Right down to her cheerful, alliterative stage name, she stood for a time of innocence and G-rated love, a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe. The running joke, attributed to both Groucho Marx and actor-composer Oscar Levant, was that they had known Day “before she was a virgin.” Day herself was no Doris Day, by choice and by hard luck. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by WENN.com In “Pillow Talk,” released in 1959 and her first of three films with Rock Hudson, she proudly caught up with what she called “the contemporary in me.” Her 1976 tell-all book, “Doris Day: Her Own Story,” chronicled her money troubles and three failed marriages, contrasting with the happy publicity of her Hollywood career. “I have the unfortunate reputation of being Miss Goody Two-Shoes, America’s Virgin, and all that, so I’m afraid it’s going to shock some people for me to say this, but I staunchly believe no two people should get married until they have lived together,” she wrote. Photo by Gigi Suhanic/Postmedia News She never won an Academy Award, but Day was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, as George W. Bush declared it “a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content In recent years, she spent much of her time advocating for animal rights. Although mostly retired from show business since the 1980s, she still had enough of a following that a 2011 collection of previously unreleased songs, “My Heart,” hit the top 10 in the United Kingdom. The same year, she received a lifetime achievement honour from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Friends and supporters lobbied for years to get her an honorary Oscar. Born to a music teacher and a housewife, she had dreamed of a dance career, but at age 12, she suffered a crippling accident: a car she was in was hit by a train and her leg was badly broken. Listening to the radio while recuperating, she began singing along with Ella Fitzgerald, “trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images Day began singing in a Cincinnati radio station, then a local nightclub, then in New York. A bandleader changed her name to Day, after the song “Day after Day,” to fit it on a marquee. A marriage at 17 to trombonist Al Jorden ended when, she said, he beat her when she was eight months pregnant. She gave birth to her son, Terry, in early 1942. Her second marriage also was short-lived. She returned to Les Brown’s band after the first marriage broke up. Her Hollywood career began after she sang at a Hollywood party in 1947. After early stardom as a band singer and a stint at Warner Bros., Day won the best notices of her career with “Love Me or Leave Me,” the story of songstress Ruth Etting and her gangster husband-manager. She initially balked at it, but the 1955 film became a box-office and critical success. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content She followed with another impressive film, Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” starring her and James Stewart as an innocent couple ensnared in an international assassination plot. She sings “Que Sera, Sera” just as the story reaches its climax and viewers are beside themselves with suspense. The 1958 comedy “Teacher’s Pet” paired her with an aging Clark Gable as an idealistic college journalism teacher and her student, an old-school newspaper editor. But she found her greatest success in slick, stylish sex comedies, beginning with her Oscar-nominated role in “Pillow Talk.” She and Hudson were two New Yorkers who shared a telephone party line and initially hated each other. Photo by PNG Merlin Archive She followed with “The Thrill of It All,” playing a housewife who gains fame as a TV pitchwoman to the chagrin of obstetrician husband James Garner. The nation’s theatre owners voted her the top moneymaking star in 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Her first musical hit was the 1945 smash, “Sentimental Journey,” when she was barely in her 20s. Among the other songs she made famous were “Everybody Loves a Lover,” ”Secret Love,“ and ”It’s Magic,“ a song from ”Romance on the High Seas,“ her first film. Critic Gary Giddins called her “the coolest and sexiest female singer of slow-ballads in movie history.” “Romance on the High Seas” had been designed for Judy Garland, then Betty Hutton. Both bowed out, and Day, recommended by songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, won the role. Warner Bros. cashed in on its new star with a series of musicals, including “My Dream Is Yours,” ”Tea for Two“ and ”Lullaby of Broadway.“ Her dramas included ”Young Man with a Horn,“ with Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall, and ”Storm Warning,“ with Ronald Reagan and Ginger Rogers. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Her last film was “With Six You Get Eggroll,” a 1968 comedy about a widow and a widower and the problems they have when blending their families. With movies trending for more explicit sex, she turned to television to recoup her finances. “The Doris Day Show” was a moderate success in its 1966-1973 run on CBS. Photo by Bob Dear / ASSOCIATED PRESS Disillusionment grew in the 1960s when she discovered that failed investments by her third husband, Martin Melcher, left her deeply in debt. She eventually won a multimillion-dollar judgment against their lawyer. She had married Melcher, who worked in her agent’s office, in 1951. He became her manager, and her son took his name. In most of the films following “Pillow Talk,” Melcher was listed as co-producer. Melcher died in 1969. In her autobiography, Day recalled her son, Terry Melcher, telling her the $20 million she had earned had vanished and she owed around $450,000, mostly for taxes. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content In 1974, Day won a $22.8 million judgment against Jerome B. Rosenthal, her lawyer and business manager, for mishandling of her and Melcher’s assets. Terry Melcher, who died in 2004, became a songwriter and record producer, working with such stars as the Beach Boys. But he was also famous for an aspiring musician he turned down, Charles Manson. When Manson and his followers embarked on their murderous rampage in 1969, they headed for the house once owned by Melcher and instead came upon actress Sharon Tate and some visitors, all of whom were killed. Day married a fourth time at age 52, to businessman Barry Comden in 1976. She lived in Monterey, California, devoting much of her time to the Doris Day Animal Foundation. Share this article in your social network Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Shopping essentials Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. NP Posted Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. 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Doris Day, the honey-voiced singer and actress whose film dramas, musicals and innocent sex comedies made her a top star in the 1950s and '60s and among the most popular screen actresses in history, has died at age 97. The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, Calif., home. The foundation said she was surrounded by close friends. "Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death," the foundation said in an emailed statement. The foundation also said she requested "no funeral or memorial service and no grave marker." With her lilting contralto, wholesome blond beauty and glowing smile, she was a top box office draw and recording artist known for such films as Pillow Talk and That Touch of Mink, and songs including Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) from the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much. The one, the only, the woman who inspired so much of what I do... Doris Day I love you, my calamity Jane. An iconic woman who I was hugely honoured to meet and share precious moments with. Rest in peace x pic.twitter.com/brkli7fKYE —@StellaMcCartney But over time, she became more than a name above the title: Right down to her cheerful, alliterative stage name, she stood for a time of innocence and G-rated love, a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe. The running joke, attributed to both Groucho Marx and actor-composer Oscar Levant, was that they had known Day "before she was a virgin." Day herself was no Doris Day, by choice and by hard luck. 'Miss Goody Two-Shoes' image In Pillow Talk, released in 1959 and her first of three films with Rock Hudson, she proudly caught up with what she called "the contemporary in me." Her 1976 tell-all book, Doris Day: Her Own Story, chronicled her money troubles and three failed marriages, contrasting with the happy publicity of her Hollywood career. Day was known for her wholesome image and films such films as Pillow Talk and That Touch of Mink. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) "I have the unfortunate reputation of being Miss Goody Two-Shoes, America's Virgin, and all that, so I'm afraid it's going to shock some people for me to say this, but I staunchly believe no two people should get married until they have lived together," she wrote. She never won an Academy Award, but Day was given a U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, as George W. Bush declared it "a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff of Evanston, Ohio, decided to become an entertainer." Day and Tony Curtis in 1958 at a gala dinner in Los Angeles after winning awards for best actress and actor presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. (The Associated Press) Day was honoured with a lifetime achievement honour at the 2008 Grammy Awards, after earning two nominations during her heyday: a nod for Everybody Loves a Lover at the first-ever Grammys in 1958 and another for a 1960 recording of The Sound of Music (Day was among the performers considered for the lead role in the 1965 movie adaptation). In recent years, she spent much of her time advocating for animal rights. Although mostly retired from show business since the 1980s, she still had enough of a following that a 2011 collection of previously unreleased songs, My Heart, hit the top 10 in the United Kingdom. Once I had a secret loveThat lived within the heart of meAll too soon my secret loveBecame impatient to be freeI will miss you Doris Day , my first secret love —@paulocoelho The same year, she received a lifetime achievement honour from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Friends and supporters lobbied for years to get her an honorary Oscar. Started as a singer Born to a music teacher and a housewife in Cincinnati, she had dreamed of a dance career, but at age 12, she suffered a crippling accident: a car she was in was hit by a train and her leg was badly broken. Listening to the radio while recuperating, she began singing along with Ella Fitzgerald, "trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words." Day began singing in a Cincinnati radio station, then a local nightclub, then in New York.