Doris Day

Doris Day

Cincinnati-born big-band singer and film star of Calamity Jane, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Pillow Talk, and the top box-office draw of the early 1960s.

Born April 3, 1922, Cincinnati
Died May 13, 2019, her home in Carmel Valley, California

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: April 3, 1922, Cincinnati (Hamilton County) source
Died: May 13, 2019, her home in Carmel Valley, California source
Buried: No grave: cremated, ashes scattered in Carmel, California, with no funeral or marker at her request source
Also known as: Doris Day, Doris Kappelhoff
Known as: Entertainment
Organizations: Columbia Records

Life story

Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff was born in Cincinnati in 1922 to a German-American family. Her father taught music and led a choir.

A 1937 car-train collision broke her leg and ended her dance plans. While recovering she found her singing voice.

She became a leading big-band singer in the 1940s, with her first big hits in 1945. She recorded over 650 songs between 1947 and 1967.

She made movies from 1948 to 1968 and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in 1959. She ranked first at the box office four times between 1960 and 1964. Later she championed animal welfare and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. She died in 2019.

Ohio ties

Cincinnati (1922-about 1940)
birthplace and home; childhood house on Greenlawn Avenue in Evanston Hamilton County · source
Hamilton (1937)
the car taking her from a going-away party at 258 Walnut Street was hit by a freight train at an uptown crossing, ending her dance career Butler County · source
WLW radio and Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn, Cincinnati (1938-1939)
first professional singing jobs, on WLW's Carlin's Carnival and at the Shanghai Inn restaurant Hamilton County · source
Sign of the Drum, Bond Hill, Cincinnati (1938-1939)
Barney Rapp chose her as the singer for his planned Bond Hill club and gave her the name Day Hamilton County · source
Ohio Women's Hall of Fame (1981)
inducted source

Timeline

1922 Born Doris Mary Kappelhoff in Cincinnati on 3 April to Alma and William Kappelhoff. source
1932 Her parents separated when she was ten. source
mid-1930s Formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that competed nationally. source
1937 On 13 October (14 October in a Hamilton account), the car carrying her from a going-away party in Hamilton was hit by a freight train and her right leg was broken, ending her plans to dance in Hollywood. source
1938 While recovering, took singing lessons from Grace Raine and began singing on WLW's Carlin's Carnival and at Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. source
1938 Bandleader Barney Rapp, looking for a singer for his planned Sign of the Drum club in Bond Hill, picked her from about 200 hopefuls. source
1939 Took the stage name Doris Day at Rapp's suggestion, after her rendition of 'Day After Day'. source
1940 The Dayton Forum ran a photograph of her with bandleader Bob Crosby on 19 July. source
1945 Her recording of 'Sentimental Journey' with Les Brown's band reached No. 1. source
1948 Made her film debut in Romance on the High Seas. source
1953 Starred in Calamity Jane; its song 'Secret Love' won the Academy Award. source
1956 Sang 'Que Sera, Sera' in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much; it won the Academy Award for best song. source
1959 Received her only Oscar nomination, for Pillow Talk. source
1968 Began The Doris Day Show on CBS, which ran until 1973. source
1981 Inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. source
2004 Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. source
2017 The Associated Press obtained her birth certificate from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics, showing she was turning 95, not 93. source
2019 Died of pneumonia at her home in Carmel Valley, California, on 13 May, aged 97. source

What Doris is known for

'Que Sera, Sera' (1956), Oscar-winning song
Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2004
Que Sera, Sera (1956)
Doris Day Animal Foundation
Doris Day Animal League

Stories

The freight train at Hamilton

In October 1937 Doris Kappelhoff and her dance partner Jerome 'Jerry' Doherty were about to leave for Hollywood, and friends Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Holden of 258 Walnut Street in Hamilton gave them a going-away party. Doris, Jerry's brother Lawrence, Albert Schroeder, 20, and Marian Bonekamp, 18, left the party for a drive. At a crossing that the Evening Journal called one of the most treacherous in the uptown district, Schroeder said he never saw the slow freight train or the watchman, Frank Purdue, swinging two red lanterns. The train side-swiped the car and threw it 20 feet. Schroeder and Doris both broke legs and Bonekamp was scarred for life. Doris's recovery took 14 months, she never danced professionally again, and the Hollywood move was cancelled.

Source

Ninety-five, not ninety-three

For most of her life Doris Day gave 1924 as her birth year, and the press reported her age anywhere from 93 to 95. In April 2017 the Associated Press obtained her birth certificate from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics: Doris Mary Kappelhoff was born on 3 April 1922 to Alma and William Kappelhoff of Cincinnati. 'It's great to finally know how old I really am!' Day said. Her spokesman guessed that her age had been miswritten on an audition form when she was young and simply stuck. The correction also meant that her close friend Betty White, born in January 1922, was only a couple of months older than her rather than two years.

Source

From Kappelhoff to Day

Stuck at home with a broken leg, Doris sang along with the radio, and her mother arranged lessons with Grace Raine, who saw 'tremendous potential' and gave her three lessons a week for the price of one. Her first paid singing jobs were on WLW's Carlin's Carnival and at Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. Bandleader Barney Rapp heard her on the radio and asked her to audition after reportedly hearing some 200 singers. He thought Kappelhoff too long for a marquee and, admiring her 'Day After Day', suggested Doris Day. She sang with his New Englanders before moving on to Jimmy James, Bob Crosby and Les Brown.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2004
Ohio Women's Hall of Fame, 1981 (record)
Oscar nomination, Best Actress, 1959

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments.

Doris Day childhood home (private)
Greenlawn Avenue, Evanston, Cincinnati Hamilton County · source
Sign of the Drum (Barney Rapp's planned club) (unknown)
Bond Hill, Cincinnati Hamilton County · source

Ohio places

Where Doris Day was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Cincinnati, Hamilton County ZIP 45202 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Doris Day, and what the record shows.

Often said Doris Day was born in 1924 (as WVXU and many outlets still reported in 2014, marking her '90th' birthday).

The record She gave 1924 for most of her life, but her Ohio birth certificate, obtained by the Associated Press in 2017, shows 3 April 1922, which made her 95 that spring, not 93. source

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Birth certificate of Doris Mary Kappelhoff, 3 April 1922 (image released by the Ohio Office of Vital Statistics to the AP) 1922, Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics (via Associated Press)

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Kitty Kallen, Central Park, New York, N....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Les Brown, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day and Les Brown, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca....
Public domain
Gottlieb, William P., 1917-, photographer. [Portrait of Doris Day, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946] 1 ...
Public domain
Studio publicity portrait of Doris Day for the 1960 film Midnight Lace.
Public domain