Doris Day, the screen legend, has died at age 97. She was not married at the time she died, and, thus, she did not have a current husband. Although Doris Day was known for her innocence on screen and became an American sweetheart, her personal life was more complicated. Throughout her lifetime, Doris Day was married four times. What was the cause of death? Day’s foundation told the Associated Press that Doris Day “had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia.” Her four husbands were Al Jorden (married in 1941 and divorced two years later); George Weidler (married in 1946 and divorced three years later); Martin Melcher (married in 1951 and he died in 1968); and Barry Comden (married in 1976 and divorced in 1981). One of those marriages – the first, to Al Jorden – produced Day’s son, Terry Melcher. Here’s what you need to know about Doris Day’s family: Martin Melcher Was Accused of Squandering Doris Day’s Earnings According to Fox 19, although it was the longest lived, Day’s marriage to Martin Melcher, who was a film producer, was a troubled one, at least at the end. Their marriage ended with his death in 1968. “Day was shocked to learn that he and his business partner, Jerome Bernard Rosenthal, had squandered her earnings for 17 years,” Fox 19 reported. She sued Rosenthal, won damages, and “soon learned her late husband had committed her to appear in a TV series,” the news site reports. That show was “The Doris Day Show.” Melcher was Day’s agent and “pulled her out of her Warner Brothers contract and revamped her as a freelance actress for hire,” UK Telegraph reports. Al Jorden Was a Trombonist Once Called a ‘Creep’ by Doris Day But Gave Her a Son Doris Day met Al Jorden, a trombonist, when she was only 16 and was known as Doris Kappelhoff, according to UK Standard. He asked her to the movies. Jorden was older – 23 – and Day told her mother, Standard recalled, “He’s a creep and I wouldn’t go out with him if they were giving away gold nuggets at the movie!” They had things in common, though. They were in the same band in Evanstown, Cincinnati, where Day grew up. “He cheated on Doris, knocked her around and humiliated her in public,” Standard reports, but he also fathered her child, Terry Melcher. She was only 18. They eventually divorced. Tragically, her only child, Terry Melcher, died in 2004 of melanoma. Doris Day’s Marriage to Husband George Weidler Fell Apart as Her Career Took Off According to IMDB, Day’s marriage to George Weidler was similarly short-lived. “In 1946, Doris married George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year,” IMDB reported. Daily Mail reports that Weidler was a saxophonist. Her career was starting to take off: “Day’s agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros.,” the site reports. The marriage failed, reports UK Telegraph, because Weidler “thought that his wife was now too big a star for the marriage to work.” Barry Comden Felt That Doris Day’s Dogs Came First Grandes amores DORIS DAY y BARRY COMDEN pic.twitter.com/kC0TUB3lfg — María José Acuña (@mariajo_abel) February 13, 2016 Doris Day was a well-known lover of animals. Some of her husbands felt they played second fiddle to them. Barry Comden’s obituary in SFGate describes him as a “maitre d’ at a Beverly Hills restaurant.” He “complained that he took second place to her many dogs,” the newspaper reported. He was younger than Doris Day when they met at the restaurant – where she was a customer – according to SFGate. Day once said the couple, who divorced, was “just incompatible,” reported SFGate, which quoted her as saying, “She had 14 dogs, and the final straw was when I was kicked out of bed to make way for Tiger, a poodle.”<doc-sep>She turned down the Sound of Music, declaring herself too American to play a nun from Salzburg. But nor was she ready to change her image and embrace the times: rejecting the role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate. She said she found the script to be "vulgar and offensive".<doc-sep>Iconic actress and singer Doris Day has died at the age of 97. In her lifetime, although she was married four times, she had one child, Terry Melcher. Melcher died in 2004 at the age of 62, after losing a long battle with melanoma. Day had a close relationship with her only son, and was open about how hard the loss of Terry was on her. She told Closer that the biggest heartbreak in her life was “losing my dear son, Terry. He was such a huge part of my life, and I miss him all the time.” Here’s what you need to know about Doris Day’s late son, Terry Melcher: 1. Day Was 18 When She Gave Birth to Her Only Child Melcher was born on February 8, 1942. Day had him with her first husband, Al Jorden, whom she was married to from March 1941 to February 1943. According to Express, after Day married Martin Melcher in 1951, Martin adopted her son Terry and he changed his last name from Jorden to Melcher. 2. Terry Was a Musician & Record Producer Terry Melcher & Doris Day "These Days"Doris Day is backing her son Terry melcher on the song These Days, the song is recoded on the 1974 album: Terry Melcher 2007-10-20T09:10:27.000Z Terry followed in his mother’s musical footsteps and began a career as a musician and music producer. According to his obituary in The Guardian, he is credited with helping “shape Los Angeles pop into the California sound.” As a producer, he shaped the folk-rock band the Byrds (originally The Jet Set). With his mother’s encouragement, he recorded his first demo recording in 1961, which earned him a spot in Columbia Records producer-trainee program. Although his two solo-albums were unsuccessful, in spite of Doris singing back-up vocals for one of them, the single he produced with Bruce Johnston (of the Beach Boys), “Summer Means Fun,” was met with some success. According to the Rolling Stone, he also “played on the Beach Boys classic ‘Pet Sounds,’ and later co-wrote the 1988 hit ‘Kokomo’ with the group,” which received a Golden Globe nomination after it was used in the film Cocktail. 3. Terry Had Ties to Charles Manson Shortly Before His Murder Spree Terry’s friendship with the Beach Boys led to his meeting Charles Manson at the time that Manson was building his “family.” Manson was an aspiring singer-songwriter, and though Melcher considered signing him, The Guardian reports that he ultimately backed off on that deal, a shift that Manson was unhappy with. According to People Magazine, Mike Love revealed in his book Good Vibrations that “Manson was also in the car one day when Dennis dropped Terry off at his rented home at 10050 Cielo Drive, at the top of a steep hill in the Benedict Canyon area.” That mansion is where actress Sharon Tate and four others were brutally murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. Melcher moved out of the mansion before the murders took place, and Love wrote that Doris Day played a role in getting her son out of that house: “The move was no accident. Terry, Doris’ only child, was extremely close to his mom. He had told her about Manson – and about some of his scary antics, his brandishing of knives, his zombie followers – and that Manson had been to the house on Cielo and she insisted he move out.” 4. Day Dedicated a Song to Terry in Her Album ‘My Heart’ Doris Day: My Buddy, 1952 Original RecordingDoris Day singing, "My Buddy," from 1952. I love this song-I love Doris Day…listening to her sing this is like being in Heaven. :) 2009-11-25T05:49:42.000Z Ten years ago, at the age of 87, Doris Day released an album entitled My Heart, which featured old classics as well as previously unreleased songs. According to Reuters, the sales from the album went to her animal foundation. One of the songs, “My Buddy,” which she originally recorded in 1952, she dedicated to her late son. Reuters reported that the American icon said “He really was my buddy. I wanted that song to be there because it was for him and, well, all I can say is that I miss him very much.” The lyrics to the sad, but loving, song read “Life is a book that we study / Some of its leaves bring a sigh / There it was written by a buddy / That we must part, you and I / Nights are long since you went away / I think about you all through the day / My buddy, my buddy / Nobody quite so true / Miss your voice, the touch of your hand / Just long to know that you understand / My buddy, my buddy / Your buddy misses you.” 5. He & His Wife Terese Had One Son, Ryan Terry is survived by his wife Terese and their son, Ryan. Ryan now works as a realtor in Carmel, California. In Ryan’s bio on the Sotheby’s website, it says “his grandmother, Doris Day, moved to Carmel in the 1970s, soon after which Ryan and his parents followed suit. His family joined another local family in partnership in the Cypress Inn, a pet-friendly, Carmel-by-the-Sea favorite. Ryan often spent his afternoons at the Inn, interacting with guests and their dogs, an activity which he now attributes to his customer-oriented style.” Before he married Terese in 1998, he was married to Melissa E. Brown from 1974-1977 and Jacqueline Carlin, whom he divorced in 1997. A few years ago, Terese spoke to Closer Magazine about her late husband and the close relationship he shared with his famous mother, saying “Terry did so much for Doris. He was a wonderful son, and she really relied on him. He spoke with her every day, at least once a day if not more.”<doc-sep>
U.S. film actress and singer Doris Day was married four times but the longest lasting one was to Martin Melcher. Doris and Melcher were married for 17 years, with the marriage lasting until he died in April 1968. 3 Doris Day with her son Terry Melcher in 1973 Credit: Rex Features Who was Doris Day married to? Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff first got married in 1941 to Al Jorden, a trombonist in Barney Rapp’s Band. The marriage didn’t last long though and they were divorced in February 1943. During the marriage though she gave birth to her only child Terrence Paul Jorden, later known as Terry Melcher. She then married George William Weidler, a saxophonist, in March 1946. The marriage didn’t last that much longer than her first and the pair divorced in May 1949. Day married Martin Melcher on her 29th birthday – April 3, 1951. Melcher adopted Day’s son, Terry. Martin also produced many of Day’s films and both Day and Martin were Christian Scientists. The couple divorced in 1968. Her fourth marriage was to Barry Comden on April 14, 1976 and it lasted until April 1982. Comden was a maitre d’hotel at one of Day’s favourite restaurants. 3 Terry forged a successful career in music Credit: Getty - Contributor Who was her son Terry Melcher? Born in February 1942 her only child went on to forge a successful career as a music producer and songwriter. Terry produced the first two albums by The Byrds – Mr Tambourine Man, in 1965, and Turn! Turn! Turn! in the same year. He also produced most of the hits by Paul Revere & the Raiders. Terry had a hit in the 1960s with Hey Little Cobra which went top ten, performing under the name The Rip Chords. He was also friendly with the Beach Boys and helped connect Brian Wilson with lyricist Van Dyke Parks and he later produced several Beach Boys singles in the 1980s and 1990s, including Kokomo. 3 Charles Manson auditioned for Melcher but Terry ultimately rejected the cult leader Credit: AP:Associated Press How did Terry come into contact with Charles Manson? Terry had a brief association with killer and cult leader Charles Manson. He had been introduced to Manson and his “family” through Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. For a while Terry was interested in recording Manson’s songs as well as making a film about the “family” and their hippy commune lifestyle. Manson auditioned for Terry but he ultimately declined to sign him. Talk of making a documentary about Manson’s music continued but the project was dropped after he saw Manson become caught up in a fight with a drunk stuntman at Spahn Ranch. Both Terry and Wilson then severed ties with Manson. He had a son called Ryan with his second wife Jacqueline Carlin. Terry died of melanoma, aged 62, in November 2004.