(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Doris Day...
(1922 - 2019)
(Publicity-photo 'Lucky Me', 1954) |
 Legendary Actress, Singer Doris Day ('The Winning Team') passed away
Nederlands
 CARMEL VALLEY VILLAGE, California (USA) -
Legendary actress and singer Doris Day, who was famous around the world, passed away on Monday (May 13) at age 97.
Doris Day is known by many for her roles in several romantic (musical) comedies, but she also played in some thrillers.
And she played in the baseball-themed movie 'The Winning Team' and a memorable baseball-scene in 'That Touch of Mink'.
Doris Day was born on April 3, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio as Doris May Ann Kappelhoff.
Her grandparents were Geman immigrants.
After having done a screen test for Warner Bros., she was signed to a contract and played several minor roles.
Her first starring role was in 'Romance on the High Seas' in 1948, which was directed by famous directors Michael Curtiz and Busby Berkeley.
In following years, she starred in 'It's a Great Feeling' (1949) with Errol Flynn and 'Young Man with a Horn' (1950) with Kirk Douglas.
In 1953, she played the title role in the very successful musical 'Calamity Jane'.
In that movie, Doris Day played opposite Howard Keel.
From this moment on, she played in several movies that were successful, including the musical bio-pic 'Love Me or Leave Me' (1955) with James Cagney and Cameron Mitchell, the comedy 'Teacher's Pet' with Clark Gable, the romantic comedy 'Pillow Talk' (1959) with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall and the comedy 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' (1960) with David Niven.
More successful romantic comedies followed in the sixties, such as 'That Touch of Mink' (1962) with Cary Grant and Gig Young, 'Do Not Disturb' (1965) and 'The Glass Bottom Boat' (1966), both with Rod Taylor.
In 1956, Doris Day played in the thriller 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' alongside James Stewart and directed by the 'Master of Suspense' Alfred Hitchcock.
In that movie, she sang which is probably her most known song 'Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)'.
This song won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1957.
Another song of her, 'Secret Love' from 'Calamity Jane' also won an Academy Award in 1954.
In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 'Pillow Talk'.
Doris Day made her last in movie in 1968, the year when her third husband Martin Melcher died.
In that year, her TV series 'The Doris Day Show' started and lasted until 1973 (128 episodes).
Like most of her movies, this series also was successful.
...Doris Day and Ronald Reagan in...
...'The Winning Team'...
(Publicity Photo) |
As mentioned, Doris Day also acted in two baseball-themed movies.
The first was 'The Winning Team' in 1952.
This biographical drama tells the story of legendary pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.
This role is played by then-actor and future American President Ronald Reagan.
Doris Day plays his wife Aimee Alexander.
Since this movie, Doris Day and Ronald Reagan remained very good friends.
The role of former player and Manager Rogers Hornsby is played by Frank Lovejoy.
The story of this movie begins in 1911 when Grover Cleveland Alexander initially wants to become a farmer and marry his girlfriend Aimee.
However, he really wants to play baseball.
An injury almost ended his career in 1909, but he is signed to a contract when scouts see him pitch and then starts a new career.
Alexander went on to play in the Major League for 20 years for Philadelphia Phillies (1911-1917), Chicago Cubs (1918-1926), St. Louis Cardinals (1926-1929) and again the Phillies (1930).
He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1938.
Alexander won the World Series in 1926, led the National League in wins sixth times, in ERA four times and in strikeouts six times.
He missed most of the 1918 season when he was in France, serving in the Army during World War I.
After returning from France, he suffered from shell shock, was plagued with epileptic seizures, which was caused by a shell exploding near him, which also caused to partially losing his hearing.
Alexander developed a drinking problem, but thanks to his wife, he recovers and returns to playing baseball, having a successful career, that ended in 1930.
In 1962, Doris Day played opposite Cary Grant in 'That Touch of Mink', which also starred Gig Young, Audrey Meadows, John Astin and Dick Sargent and was directed by Delbert Mann.
The film is a comedy romance and was not really a baseball-movie, but has a memorable baseball scene.
Doris Day plays the role of Cathy Timberlake, who meets Philip Shayne, played by Grant.
The two start dating and Philip then takes Cathy to a game of the New York Yankees of which he is part owner.
Philip and Cathy watch the game from the dug-out, sitting besides legendary players as Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra.
When Cathy starts complaining about umpire Art Passarella, he ejects all of them.
Eventually, Cathy and Philip get married.
In later years, Doris Day devoted her life to animals
She ran the Doris Day Animal League, which advocated proper care of household pets.
In 1989, Doris Day won the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes, which is a lifetime achievement award.
In June 2004, Doris Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
In 2006, she won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
(May 13)
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