The most important thing Doris Day did

Nobody can say that Doris Day has not had a significant career in the entertainment business. Born Doris Mary Ann Von Kapplehoff to German Catholic parents on April 3, 1922 in Ohio, she became entranced with the dancing and music at a very young age. Doris had two older brothers, Richard, and Paul. Richard passed away as a child before she was born. Her parents divorced when she was ten years old, and her mother was given custody of her children.

She had high hopes of becoming a ballerina, but a car accident put those dreams to bed. She had a dance act with a young man named Jerry Doherty, and together they won $500 in a local dance contest in Ohio. They took this money and went to Hollywood. On their return trip home, when Doris was 16, they were in a terrible car accident which almost ended her dancing career.

Soon after, she starting taking singing lessons and started singing with local bands and began touring with the Les Brown Band. It was here that she met her first husband, Al Jordan. Jordan was a violent and abusive man, and they divorced soon after their son, Terry Melcher, was born.

Her agent got her a screen test at Warner Brothers, and wisely, the executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract. Her first starring role was in Romance on the High Seas in 1948, followed by My Dream is Yours and It's a Great Feeling. Her entertaining career was taking off!

During her time with Warner's, she met and married Martin Melcher on her 29th birthday. Melcher adopted her young son, Terry. During this time she starred in Calamity Jane, Lucky Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and her best known film, Pillow Talk.

Martin Melcher turned out to be a controlling man, and he started to force her to do films she did not want to make. This coupled with the death of her brother, Paul in 1958, led to Day being hospitalized for nervous exhaustion.

In 1968, Martin Melcher suddenly passed away. At this point Day discovered she was bankrupt and owed thousands of dollars. Melcher had squandered literally all of the money she had ever made. Seemingly burned out, after Melcher's death, Day never made another film.

However, Day had been unknowingly signed to her own series, The Doris Day Show, by Melcher before his death. Due to her precarious finances, she went ahead with the show, which became wildly successful and ran for five years. Since this show went off the air in 1973, Day has made only occasional TV appearances instead focusing all of her energies on animal activism.

During the filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Day saw firsthand how animals and animals were being mistreated in the entertainment industry. It was at that point that animal advocacy became her passion.

Day married again in 1976, but the marriage only last four years.

In 1978, Day started the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) based in Carmel, California which advocates loving homes and proper care of household pets.

Some of the programs the DDAF sponsor are:

1. Spay Day USA: The is America’s preeminent spay/neuter action campaign. Participants in this program have altered over a million animals since 1995 eliminating needless euthanasia for millions of animals born yearly.

2. Beyond Violence: This program enables educators to travel around the country giving training sessions and seminars to judges, police, prosecutors, mental health workers, social workers, advocates for domestic violence victims and other professionals helping them understand the importance of taking animal abuse crimes seriously and about the connection between animal abuse and violence towards humans.

3. Comics for Compassion: This special program uses comic books to educate children the heroism in standing up for an ethic of empathy and compassion.

In 1987, Day established the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL) which is a national lobbying organization which works on legislation relating to animal welfare issues at the local, state, and federal levels.

The DDAL has been credited with bringing about the 1998 California law counseling mandatory for people convicted of animal abuse, the 1999 law banning Crush Videos,' the 2000 Dog and Cat Protection Act, which prohibits the importation of products containing cat or dog fur, and the 2003 Exotic Pet Protection Act making illegal the interstate commerce of wild cats bound for the exotic pet trade.

What an amazing life Doris Day has lived! Not only was she a groundbreaking entertainer who has gone through unfathomable tragedy and loss herself, she gives of herself daily to take care of our special animal friends.

- Julie O'Hara 2023

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