Doris Day filmography
The filmography of American actress Doris Day consists of 39 feature films, released between 1948 and 1968.
Career
She began her career as a band singer, and eventually won the female lead in a Warner Bros. film, Romance on the High Seas (1948), where she was selected by Michael Curtiz replacing Betty Hutton. She went on to star in several minor musicals for Warners, including Tea for Two (1950), Lullaby of Broadway (1951), April in Paris (1952), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), and a hit musical, Calamity Jane, which gave her an Academy Award-winning song, "Secret Love" (1953). She ended her contract with Warners after filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra.
Her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955) with James Cagney, was well received by critics, and was a box office hit. Along with Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Andrew L. Stone's Julie (1956), and George Abbott and Stanley Donen's film version of The Pajama Game (1957).
Day's star attained greater heights with the success of Pillow Talk in 1959, alongside Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. She, Hudson, and Randall were later teamed for Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). In 1960, Day ranked #1 at the box office. She reached #1 at the box office again in 1962, and stayed there until 1964. Day went on to star in several other romantic comedies, including That Touch of Mink (1962) with Cary Grant, The Thrill of It All, and Move Over, Darling (both 1963), both with James Garner. After the failure of Do Not Disturb in 1965, Day's film career began to decline. She last ranked as a top ten box office star in 1966, with the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat.
Her final films Caprice, The Ballad of Josie (both 1967), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, and her final film With Six You Get Eggroll (both 1968) were critical flops, but achieved reasonable success at the box office.
When her film career ended, Day turned to television, with her situation comedy The Doris Day Show (1968–1973), which ran for five seasons and 128 episodes, and made several other television appearances throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Due to her love of animals, Day launched another TV series, Doris Day's Best Friends (1985–1986), which ran for 26 episodes. She was an honoree at The 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008, and was last seen in archive footage in a 2009 documentary, What a Difference a Day Made: Doris Day Superstar.
Film appearances
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1948 | Romance on the High Seas | Georgia Garrett | Her feature film debut |
1949 | My Dream Is Yours | Martha Gibson | |
1949 | It's a Great Feeling | Judy Adams | |
1950 | Young Man with a Horn | Jo Jordan | Her first dramatic role |
1950 | Tea for Two | Nanette Carter | Adaptation of Broadway musical No, No, Nanette |
1950 | The West Point Story | Jan Wilson | |
1951 | Storm Warning | Lucy Rice | |
1951 | Lullaby of Broadway | Melinda Howard | |
1951 | On Moonlight Bay | Marjorie "Marjie" Winfield | Based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington. |
1951 | I'll See You in My Dreams | Grace LeBoy Kahn | |
1951 | Starlift | Herself | |
1952 | The Winning Team | Aimee Alexander | |
1952 | April in Paris | Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson | |
1953 | By the Light of the Silvery Moon |
Marjorie "Marjie" Winfield | A sequel to On Moonlight Bay. |
1953 | Calamity Jane | Calamity Jane | |
1954 | Lucky Me | Candy Williams | |
1955 | Young at Heart | Laurie Tuttle | |
1955 | Love Me or Leave Me | Ruth Etting | |
1956 | The Man Who Knew Too Much | Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna | |
1956 | Julie | Julie Benton | |
1957 | The Pajama Game | Katherine "Babe" Williams | Adaptation of Broadway musical |
1958 | Teacher’s Pet | Erica Stone | |
1958 | The Tunnel of Love | Isolde Poole | |
1959 | It Happened to Jane | Jane Osgood | |
1959 | Pillow Talk | Jan Morrow | |
1960 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies |
Kate Robinson Mackay | |
1960 | Midnight Lace | Kit Preston | |
1961 | Lover Come Back | Carol Templeton | |
1962 | That Touch of Mink | Cathy Timberlake | |
1962 | Billy Rose's Jumbo | Kitty Wonder | Adaptation of Broadway musical |
1963 | The Thrill of It All | Beverly Boyer | |
1963 | Move Over, Darling | Ellen Wagstaff Arden | Remake of My Favorite Wife (1940) |
1964 | Send Me No Flowers | Judy Kimball | |
1965 | Do Not Disturb | Janet Harper | |
1966 | The Glass Bottom Boat | Jennifer Nelson | |
1967 | Caprice | Patricia Foster | |
1967 | The Ballad of Josie | Josie Minick | |
1968 | Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? |
Margaret Garrison | |
1968 | With Six You Get Eggroll | Abby McClure | Her last film |
Box office ranking
For a number of years, American movie exhibitors voted Day among the most popular stars in the country:
- 1950: 24th
- 1951: 9th
- 1952: 7th, 9th (UK)
- 1953: 11th, 9th (UK)
- 1954: 18th, 8th (UK)
- 1955: 14th, 4th (UK)
- 1956: 12th, 6th (UK)
- 1957: 17th
- 1958: 15th
- 1959: 4th
- 1960: 1st
- 1961: 3rd
- 1962: 1st, 6th (UK)
- 1963: 1st
- 1964: 1st
- 1965: 3rd
- 1966: 8th
- 1967: 25th
- 1968: 14th
Television appearances
- The 21st Annual Academy Awards (1949; TV special)
- The Bob Hope Show (1950; 1 episode)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952; short)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood on the Ball (1952; short)
- So You Want a Television Set (cameo) (1953; short)
- A Star Is Born World Premiere (1954; short)
- What's My Line? (1954; mystery guest)
- The Ed Sullivan Show (1956; 2 episodes)
- What's My Line? (1957; mystery guest)
- The 30th Annual Academy Awards (1958, co-presenter; TV special)
- This Is Music (1958; 1 episode)
- The 31st Annual Academy Awards (1959, co-presenter; TV special)
- The 32nd Annual Academy Awards (1960, co-presenter/nominee; TV special)
- Every Girl's Dream (1966; short)
- The Doris Day Show (1968-1973; 128 episodes) Golden Globe nomination.
- The Merv Griffin Show (1970; 1 episode)
- The Governor & J.J. (1970; 1 episode)
- The Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff Special (1971; TV special)
- The Pet Set (1971; 1 episode)
- The Merv Griffin Show (1973; 1 episode)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1973; 1 episode)
- AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to James Cagney (1974; TV special)
- The John Denver Show (1974; 1 episode)[1]
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1974; 1 episode)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1975; 1 episode)
- Doris Day Today (1975; CBS TV special)[2][3]
- The Mike Douglas Show (1976; 1 episode)
- Doris Day's Best Friends (1985–1986; 26 episodes)
- The 46th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1989, winner; TV special)
- Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey (1991; TV documentary)
- Vicki! (1993, 1 episode)
- Homeward Bound (1994; TV documentary)
- Don't Pave Main Street: Carmel's Heritage (1994, Narrator; documentary)
- Pebble Mill at One (1995; 1 episode)
- The Doris Day Story: Everybody's Darling (1998; TV special)
- A&E Biography: Doris Day (1998, archive footage)
- The 50th Annual Grammy Awards (2008, honoree; TV special)
- What a Difference a Day Made: Doris Day Superstar (2009, voice only; documentary)
Bibliography
- Kaufman, David (2008). Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door. New York: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-905264-30-8.
- Santopietro, Tom (2007). Considering Doris Day. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press. Emphasis is more on body of work than on her personal life.
References
- The John Denver Show (November 1, 1974) on IMDb
- Doris Day Today (TV special, Feb. 19, 1975) on IMDb
- Doris Day Today (1975) CBS press release at Wikimedia Commons