She was persuaded by Micheal Curtiz to appear in what was to be her screen debut, 'Romance On The High Seas'. Fame on the big screen came in the early 1950s, and Doris was beloved as an actress in the "girl-next-door" mould. She was a popular choice for female lead and stood out thanks to her vocal strength. She starred in such musicals as 'April In Paris', 'Lullaby Of Broadway', 'Calamity Jane' and 'Lucky Me'.
In the mid-fifties she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', a decisive move away from musicals to dramatic film, although she did sing a song in it.
Often starring in pictures with Rock Hudson, one of her best performances was in 'The Pajama Game', in 1957. In the light comedy 'Pillow Talk', Day's performance as an interior designer, to Hudson's archetypal bachelor, won her an Oscar nomination.
During the sixties her power as a box office draw started to diminish. Her last feature film was 'With Six You Get Egg Roll', in 1968.
That same year her husband of 17 years Terry Melcher died. Upon his death, Day discovered that her husband and his business partner Jerry Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Day sued Rosenthal and won the largest civil judgment up until that time in California, over $20 million.
After quitting the film industry, she was granted her own TV variety slot, 'The Doris Day Show', which ran from 1968-78. From this point the only acting she was involved in was in adverts. Her memoirs revealed that she was happy to retire from acting, considering her time as an actress to be a troubled one.
Her talent as a vocalist endures and her own recordings, as well as the soundtracks to her films, continue to sell well.
In 1975, Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story it revealed to the general public many of the painful events in her private life that belied her sunny public image. In particular, the book detailed Day's first three difficult marriages to musician Al Jorden (1941-43), George Weidler (1946-49) and Melcher.
