Eldergdays, tell me about the late Doris Day's dark side

She once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die!

But she was all sugar and spice OP, she was.

In his autobiography, On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills, Wills claimed to have had a love affair with actress Doris Day. Day denied this in her autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story, where she said it was probably advanced by the Dodgers organization for publicity purposes.

She gets chilly

Her chilly.....

One of the very few tales in which she came off as a bit of a diva was recounted by Andre Previn:

[quote] Reminded of his pop-music past with Doris Day on the now-classic 1961 album Duet, he says: "She was a strange lady. Whew! Strange foibles. 'No black shirts in here, please!' "

She had a reputation for being difficult and wasn't especially well-liked in Hollywood. Audrey Hepburn said she was dumb and boring after a studio exec arranged for the two to have lunch.

If you watch her interviews, you can see that she was no walk in the park.

She hung out with Calvin and Halston at the Mineshaft. She was into fisting while singing Que Sera Sera. There's a reason why her sitcom was based in San Francisco ....

Every blonde has a dark side...

Vintage gossip: “Day, Doris. Hard to work with. Had an unhappy life. Linked with Jimmy Hoffa, Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Ronald Reagan, Burt Reynolds, Debbie Reynolds, Sly (of Sly and the Family Stone), and Maury Wills.“

She was a nymphomaniac and lived in a trailer park in LA in 1947

Am I confusing her with another actress or didn't her mother raise her son?

I knew her before she was a virgin!

Her insatiable craving for BBC was legendary in Hollywood.

Her autobiography said she felt people should live together before getting married because she would have found out her first husband was a psycho who beat the shit out of her if they lived together. She also said that fat women need to go on a diet because they'll lose their men. Must have been a DL'er.

SHe didnt really have a loving relationship with her son, Terry Melchor. She always looked to him as an advisor figure. She wasnt maternal or motherly. I would count most of that off to the usual extreme narcissism of the movie star. It didnt get any better later in life. She also had zero relationship with her only living relative, her grandson. He was excommunicated decades ago for whatever reason.

She couldnt get along with human beings so it became all about the dogs.

She went thru a born again phase and had a tv program on the CBN network in the mid 80s. However, she was extremely fearful f death. SHe would NEVER fly, she would make no provisions in her will for the continual care of her dogs after her death as she couldnt face the issue of death. She also is having no funeral, no memorial, no grave marker. SHe wanted NOTHING to do with death. I have seen this reaction with other born again nut jobs. It strikes me as very very curious they believe in all that afterlife crap yet they fear death immensly. Doris sruck me as somebody that never grew up or faced the normal responsiblities of adulthood or life.

R16 Didn't she also refuse to attend her son's funeral?

I don't know anything about a dark side, but I enjoyed her style in light comedies. Paul McCartney just wrote a loving tribute to her:

“She was a true star in more ways than one. Visiting her in her Californian home was like going to an animal sanctuary where her many dogs were taken care of in splendid style,” the Beatle wrote. “She had a heart of gold and was a very funny lady who I shared many laughs with. Her films like Calamity Jane, Move Over, Darling and many others were all incredible and her acting and singing always hit the mark. I will miss her but will always remember her twinkling smile and infectious laugh as well as the many great songs and movies she gave us.”

Paul has been high since 1965.

I remember visiting my aunt in Carmel back in the 70's. She told me to stay out of the backyard after sundown.

It was kind of drag because she had a heated pool and I wanted to go swimming after dark.

But then, sure enough, there was Doris Day, high on angel dust and brandishing a machete in my aunt's backyard right after sunset.

Poor Blackie. He was my aunties's pekingese. The gardener would find bits and pieces of him for months afterward in the juniper bushes.

Interesting times.

She liked chocolate peen .

R5 Who was that worthless bimbo/whore sitting next to Doris?

Extra credit to Doris for not slapping the shit out of her.

She treated poor Angie Dickinson like dirt when she was a guest on her show. You could tell that Angie was scared of her.

She was tight with Charles Manson.

There's nothing I hate more than a movie star who's not like the image they've created over the course of a career. They owe their fans to be the person they say they are in their films and interviews. The fans pay their salaries so they better love their son and grandson. She better not have been spending her bus trips hopping from one horny Led Brown musician to another. Honestly though I have no idea how she couldn't have.

R14, she was also a big fan of Radio 2, they played a lot of her songs.

She was SO tight with the Manson Family, R24, that she tried to get us to conduct Helter Skelter at that house on Cielo Drive while her son, Terry Melcher, was shacking up there with Candy Bergen.

Eldergays, how did it feel being 30 when Doris Day was born?

Surviving outtakes from her sitcom quell any rumors that she was hard to work with, and Rose Marie, who never minced words, loved her and loved working with her.

If there was a dark side, it had to do with how she was mistreated, rather than how she treated people.

Back in the early 1940s when she was a big band singer, she was allegedly the pass around bottom at the back of the orchestra bus.

Or was the Dinah Shore?

I can never remember which.

R23 Interesting interview. Thanks for posting. Doris came off as somewhat chilly. I much would have preferred coffee with Angie.

R16 That's all cynical nonsense. Her and her only child, Terry, had a good relationship. She did not have a born again phase, it was CBN who simply accepted her new animal show. She was NOT narcissistic but rather a warm and caring person. Kaye Ballard who worked with her said that Doris wouldn't hurt a person even if she could.

R23 I liked the ending of the video - it was like a comedy show. Great!

You'd be hard pressed to find the dark side of Doris Day. Everyone seemed to like her. And all the work she did with animals was phenomenal.

She liked her men well hung.

She was a demon from the abyss but she loved pajama parties.

This clip of her throwing herself at the also dead Tim Conway was based on her wicked ways.

She always grabbed the best parking space. Right in front of the entrance. Every freaking time. Once I even left a nasty note on her car.

She was a Republican.

I read today she had to sue her former lawyer for $17 million for bilking her out of her fortune. But it took almost 2 decades to get any settlement- and then it was only $6 million.

Here's the husband Al Jorden who used to smack her around. He fathered her son but the boy took the last name of one of her other husbands.

Racked up rotten men throughout her life. A sad habit of some poor heterosexual women.

Didn't she have to be sent back to her rented London residence to recuperate for a day or two during the shooting of Midnight Lace because she got so wrapped up in her part that she passed out during the filming of a climactic scene?

R23. What a find! I don't get how Doris treated Angie like dirt, but I do suggest lighting one up before watching. You won't regret it.

Last night, I decided to stream that Touch of Mink, because of all the mention of DD in the last week. I only got through 10 minutes. Her anger and bitchiness really came through, quite apart from her role and lines. Actors/actresses put an extra energy into parts or lines where they are expressing an intrinsic aspect of their own nature.

Doris looks so young and healthy at R23, but Angie is so much more sexy and fun. Doris Day is way before my time, but she was a very good singer. Her body was hot stuff too. Though she appears energetic and cheerful, she doesn't seem to have any sense of humor. She's a bit of strange.

Sometimes Doris would run out of coffee filters and root around in the trash for yesterday's, rinse it off, and use it.

There was not one real moment in the Doris/ Angie video. They were both charming especially Angie and looked great and seemed to be friends.

I thought Doris was odd and a touch difficult in the Tonight Show clip.

I think she lived long because she was in her own happy place in her mind and shut out the negative really well. I think she was strong willed, too.

Perhaps she didn’t want black shirts at work because they reminded her of death.

Back in the day when a big old star could make real money from writing their autobiography. She was reclusive, perhaps shy? But the questions are really sexist and dumb by today's standards. The Mike Douglas interview is really difficult to watch. Doris is at odds with him and that other dude on the couch from What's My Line. They keep giving her compliments, but she sort of disputes everything they think of her. Why would a woman of 50 not know how to address the "virgin" reputation with good humor by then? She's pretty fucking odd. She's not fake - but she's quite uncomfortable and very fucking testy. In direct contrast to her warm voice and big smile. Weird.

In 1962 she hooked up with Mickey Mantle when they met in this movie. Mantle said she had one of the best female bodies he had seen.

[quote] Mantle boasted to friends that not only had he slept with Day at his regular suite in New York's St Moritz Hotel but also that she was an accomplished lover

Looking it up on IMDB that means she was cheating on her husband Martin Melcher and Mantle was cheating on his wife Merlyn.

Based on the recent CBS Sunday Morning interview Angie D won't be with us much longer, either.

Dodo and Charlie Manson were both born in Cincinnati. Her mother raised Terry in Cincy in his early years.

OP, tell me about stupid fucking OPs.

R45 has never heard of subtext.

R5, wow, she's practically passive aggressive with Johnny; haven't watched Mike Douglas one.

I 've interviewed actors for websites and mags. I've encountered interviews like this; just once in my career, I want to walk out on an interview after telling them this is not cool.

R45 certainly knows from sub-text. But DD came across as an uptight, humourless bitch.R45

[quote]She treated poor Angie Dickinson like dirt when she was a guest on her show.

That was a little short they made for Angie's show, it wasn't a real interview and it was meant to be funny. They were acting.

Did everyone here really believe that it was a genuine interview? Good grief.

R56, I think a lot of Carson's interviewees were that way. I remember thinking both Elizabeth Taylor and Lucille Ball were difficult and passive-aggressive on his show, too. Doris was I think trying to be more hip than she really was, as well.

I too would like to know who the feckless bimbo was sitting next to DD in the Carson interview. Cringeworthy.

Why didn't DD play Mame in the film version, it seems like an obvious choice...

Doris Day was in talks to play Mama Rose to Streisand's Louise just a few years back. Gypsy is on hold, again.

[quote] I too would like to know who the feckless bimbo was sitting next to DD in the Carson interview.

Carol Wayne. The dumb blonde routine was her act. From what I've read about her she was no rocket scientist but not dumb either. Apparently a very nice person. Drowned in Mexico under suspicious circumstances.

That "bimbo" was Carol Wayne and that was her act! It was her whole shtick; she was one of dozens of dumb blondes popular in the 1970s.

Shocking that DLers skew so old that Carol Wayne is too "new" for them to remember.

I knew Carol Wayne was a frequent Tonight Show guest but forgot she also appeared in over 100 skits on the show.

[quote]She gained her greatest fame for appearances (1967–1984) on The Tonight Show including 100-plus appearances (1971–1984) as the buxom Matinée Lady on The Tonight Show in Johnny Carson's popular Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches, which were filled with sexual double entendres

R63 she was with the same guy in Mexico,who had a few years earlier been with Diane Linkletter when she died from a fall......

Is an “eldergday” an old Australian homosexual?

Damn Carol Wayne was funny! Those skits are terrible but I'm laughing out loud. Harvey Weinstein would seem like the handsome gentle producer to a woman like her back in those days I imagine. Hopefully she didn't have to fuck Carson every appearance.

I bet she did have to R68

[quote]She was a Republican.

Her generation Republican wasn't anywhere near today's Holy Roller fuck everyone but me Republicans.

My mother said she once saw Doris out at a restaurant in LA, and she sent her tea back because it was cold.

lol r67

Kirk Douglass said Doris Day was the most remote person he ever met.

r52 😢😲Pard? What was up with Angie in her recent interview?

She was the real murderer in Midnight Lace , not Rex Harrison .

R74 She looked like death warmed over. And only to lukewarm, at best.

Loved her, know she's had a hard road, but still, ole girl looked ROUGH.

Thanks r76 although I just hope she was having a bad day. I adore Angie and think she makes a brilliant interview or speaking guest whenever I've watched her.

In the interview clips posted, Doris seemed vacant with little depth. She should have stayed away from interviews. She was either extremely introverted or dense--may both.

[quote]Shocking that DLers skew so old that Carol Wayne is too "new" for them to remember.

The problem isn't DLers skewing too [italic]old[/italic],r64; some are too young and can't imagine people or pop culture from a time before they were born.

R16 said “She couldnt get along with human beings so it became all about the dogs.”

Yes. Something I’ve observed in real life.

People who love their animals a bit too much and treat them like humans scare the shit out of me.

Was Doris like Brigitte Bardot? In that she hated humans but adored animals?

I just listened to Terry Gross's intereview with her from 2012 (it was rebroadcast on Fresh Air).

Day seems pleasant but a really bad interview.

Q: What songs did you like best?

A: All of them.

Q: Which role was least like you?

A: None of them. I just read the words they gave me.

The only interesting thing she said was that she HATED Que Sera Sera. So do I.

She made Midnight Lace...that’s enough.

So rapist Kirk Douglas complains about "remote" Doris Day?

And some queen complains about classy Angie Dickinson looking old when she is old?

Fuck that shit.

She has the most gorgeous speaking voice. If she didn't want to be in films anymore, she could have made millions doing voiceovers.

R17 She was at her son's funeral.

Terry took care of Doris a lot, but she was making lots of money after her husband ran away with her previous earnings, and he needed a career.

Also: it's not uncommon for movie stars' children to take care of their parents, especially when their parents were famous for being talented or beautiful rather than smart. One of Elizabeth Taylor's sons said that all his siblings and he absolutely adored their mother, but that she expected them to take care of her rather than the other way around. They did it because they knew of no other life, and were surprised as they got older to find out this dynamic wasn't the case for most of the people they met.

I'm not perky, Barbara.

Something happened with her grandson after her son died. I think something between her and her former daughter in law. Then the grandson goes to the tabs, including the National Enquirer, complaining he doesn't have a relationship with Doris anymore and begging to see her. I think he mentioned somethi g about the problems she had with his mother. This was maybe 8 years ago and since it was known she liked her privacy I thought his going to the tab was the stupidest thing he could do. I wasn't surprised to find out she left him out of the will. And he is already talking about how they were estranged.

I had sufficient.

If Doris Day had an evil side I never saw or heard of it. R45 she in angry in " Touch Of Mink" because she and Grant have no chemistry. Day only sparked with very American type men( Rock Hudson, James Garner, Jack Lemmon). Grant was too worldly as were Rex Harrison, Louis Jordan, and Rod Taylor. Although I never thought of her as dumb or uncivilized European actors make her seem obtuse and confused. She is an American girl in all her films. And I don't believe iAudrey Hepburn would ever say a mean thing about another actress. That's more a Bette Davis/Ginger Rogers sort of thing.

Doris' real name was Beverly Boyer and she was a pig.

If you want to see two chilly women together, then watch Doris interview Joan Fontaine.

This article looks like it was typed by a monkey, but has some interesting info.

R73 and he was the most affable rapist ever!

Her grandson is NOT hawt, so I can understand the estrangement.

[quote]I'm not perky, Barbara.

I've seen Doris interviewed by Barbara Walters, Mike Douglas, Johnny Carson, Gary Collins and Vicki Lawrence. All of the interviews were unpleasant to watch. And, in the late 60s when TV Guide was publicizing her TV series, her printed interviews were unpleasant to read.

When her TV series was released on DVD, she did a commentary for two[?] episodes. That was also done as an interview, and it fell as flat as the others. She was only enthusiastic when one of her dogs appeared in the episode. And then, she apologized to the interviewer for talking too much about the dog, and went back to her "ho-hum, couldn't care less" replies to other questions.

She was probably a lovely person, but there was some quirk that made her a terrible interview subject.

R99 Doris had great charisma and a bouncy personality on screen in her movies but in her interviews she was shy, brief, and somewhat withdrawn. It was a case of don't expect the same person you saw on screen in person. They were very much different.

I think she had a difficult husband who movie executives had to work with.

One thing I remember about the Mike Douglas show was that she said she would stay on the panel because her friend Rex Reed was coming on next. She did love her gay men.

Doris Day was a Christian Scientist. They were taught that sin, sickness and death are evil. This is the reason she could not acknowledge anything but positivity.

Dday

Doris Kappelhoff and Artie Kelm were peas in a pod.

It was well known that Doris was in a Satanic cult that sacrificed puppies and premature Down’s syndrome babies on an altar designed by Edith Head. That was the driving force behind her becoming an animal advocate, to make up for all those puppies. Her pal Rose Marie asked her once about the Down’s syndrome babies and she said “Oh, I don’t care about them, they were deformed anyway.”

Her teeth were fake. As were her bosoms.

Her voice was ear-piercingly shrill.

Thanks, r77. Angie looks and sounds great even if her hair is a bit frazzled. She had more to say about the #metoo movement but remained mum. Surely men exposed themselves to her or took some liberties while on set. She just dealt with it like women did back then or perhaps enjoyed it on occasion. What a dame!

She had a lovely view from her home especially with that sunset.

Doris was born a man, Eddie Kapplehoff. We’ll see how long it takes for the truth to leak out.

Doris was nice enough but not particularly deep

I wouldn't over-analyze her

P.S. For a Christian Scientist Doris wasn't afraid to have plastic surgery

r108 Angie Dickinson always makes a great interviewee. She's very engaging and at ease.

She and Ronald Reagan used to date..which in some peoples minds might seem evil. (:

I love Angie Dickinson. DL hates it when some of us say something (or someone) was before our time, but Police Woman is before my time. Still I have seen Angie in some old movies and in lots of things posted on DL. She was such a kittenish unusual kind of pretty. Truly sexy, never over coiffed. Let the body and legs and her tiny eyes and lovely speaking voice do the work. Married to a cold freak like Bacharach, but this ballsy fun poker playing lady who could hang with the biggest of boys. And did. Kennedy, Carson and Sinatra. I really do have an affection for her. She wasn't enormously talented and didn't age like Jane Fonda - yet she's stayed sexy and vibrant and interesting. Who is as down to earth AND glamorous, kind and mysterious as she today? I have a renewed crush everytime I see her. Weird. The great big world won't notice, but what a loss when she goes.

Doris D always seemed like a drippy, bitchy , typically bleached blonde Republicunt to me ie: I don’t give a shit about anyone or anything that isn’t about me. Her movies were godawful too. Never understood her popularity.

r113 Brilliant post. I agree with every word.

Albert Brooks tried really hard to get Doris for "Mother".

R102 and in the Carson interview she speaks lovingly of flaming Billy de Wolfe, who had died recently. IIRC, she says he called her Clarabelle.

Probably because gay men were good to her unlike their hetero counterparts

She taught Stevie Nicks how to kick someone in the cunt bone.

Thanks, r113. I agree.

[quote]r3 In [italic]The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills,[/italic] Wills claimed to have had a love affair with actress Doris Day. Day denied this.

I thought this said "Mary Wells"

R7 "Audrey Hepburn said she was dumb and boring after a studio exec arranged for the two to have lunch. "

So much jealousy in show business. The angelic Hepburn (cough, cough) couldn't stand the fact that Day bested her as the #1 Box Office star just when Hepburn was supposedly in her prime.

R114 this thread is about Doris Day, not you.

R95 How was that chilly? They both seemed warm and friendly.

This "Doris was cold" in interviews bullshit is getting stale.

R91, he talked about it on Facebook yesterday. Very sad...not his fault.

Doris Day was into Punk Rock in the late 70s.

She liked to hold private parties for her golden age of Hollywood peers. She'd dress up as Nancy Spungen, and sing along to the entire Sex Pistols album "Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols". Cary Grant wasn't amused by her rendition of "God Save The Queen".

Doris dodged a bullet with Brooks' lame Mother. He had lost his comic mojo by then.

Dorisshh and I did scho much blow at Shtudio 54!

R22, that was Carol Wayne next to her, a frequent Tonight Show guest. Mysteriously died of drowning in very shallow water, you may be pleased to learn.

That very show was on MeTV a few nights ago.

She refused to attend her own funeral.

Carol Wayne has been identified and discussed on this thread already R129. She is grieved more than Doris Day it seems.

[quote] Carol Wayne has been identified and discussed on this thread already [R129]. She is grieved more than Doris Day it seems

Maybe Datalounge is hostile to virgins, which is odd considering the persistence of the Boris trolls.

I can’t imagine Audrey telling people Doris Day was dumb and boring. Receipts, please.

[quote]IIRC, she says he called her Clarabelle.

And she called him Darlene.

[quote]I can’t imagine Audrey telling people Doris Day was dumb and boring. Receipts, please.

I read it in an article. Why would I make up something so random? If you watch her interviews, it's not hard to understand why someone would think she was shallow and uninteresting.

R5 She looks rather alluring here. You can see her nips under that top.

R23, what show was this?

[quote]If you watch her interviews, it's not hard to understand why someone would think she was shallow and uninteresting.

Not questioning AH’s opinion of DD, just that Audrey would openly express such a negative opinion of a fellow actress. Happens all the time today, but not back then, and Audrey was a careful, classy woman.

[quote] You can see her nips under that top.

I wasn't actually looking there when I watched r5 but plainly Mickey Mantle lucked out on that one. Impressive.

[quote]r91 I wasn't surprised to find out she left him out of the will. And he is already talking about how they were estranged.

Any parent that would financially disown their child is disgusting.

I never need to read a single thing about Day again if this is the truth. She would be literally dead to me, as her son was to her.

What a CUNT.

I can't stand chilly people!

Loving these clips of Doris interviewing people up in Carmel. What a fun, glamorous format.

But she's not glamorous. She's just a bit forceful, quite difficult and very healthy looking. Doris Day was born in the same year as Judy Garland and Ava Gardner - one year later than Lana Turner. Dodo wasn't glamorous and didn't have great star appeal in real life. Someone else here can say it better. I don't seek to degrade her, but there's something very carnal church lady about her in real life. She was a great singer at a time when a decent singer who was white and good looking could become a movie star.

There is no excuse for her constant ignorance of her professional life. She was fooled way more than once. This "optimistic" personality seems more a permanent escape from traumas or plain old reality. Even in her last years, she was controlled by some 'manager' who kept her grandson away. Aside from the fact that she was before my time and I hate her movies and expressions, she was just weird. I'm glad she was nice to Rock Hudson and her many dogs, but she never once acknowledged that anything died. She's dead.

R139 do you know if she was said to have had any augmentation?

R143 Angie?

Doris once pissed in my shoes. As directed by Ms Day ,I politely left my shoes placed neatly on her front hall welcome mat. Imagine my surprise when later collecting my suede loafers , I discovered them saturated with Doris Days deeply fragrant piss. Doris blamed the Dog...but I knew better. Doris was a very dirty girl.

What a stupid, laugh-free thread.

I'm reading her late-70s media blitz as an attempt to get back into movies and recording. It looks like she may have had some face tightening and some boob work done. But she just wasn't career-savvy and couldn't make it happen. She needed a man in charge or a studio head calling the shots. Her career seems like she just did what she was told.

I can see her in "Ordinary People" or Neil Simon or a Woody Allen movie.

"Ordinary People" would have been interesting. I guess she was too old at the time anyway.

She always played 20 years younger than she was. Her big rom-coms were when she was around 40. And on her TV show she had young kids- but was pushing 50.

Sounds like Doris was defensive about her "clean and virginal" image.

She was the queen of denial.

Doris Day was trans.

Why wouldn't she talk to her grandson?

I love in the Carson interview where is clueless about the meaning of her friends nicknaming her Suzy Creamcheese. Lol. Was she that dense?

She was professional and talented and dependable....Never could get into her. And so many gay men ADORE her. The only movies I've liked have been "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" and "Midnight Lace," which dealt with difficulties and even some darkness. Rare for her. ( "Love Me or Leave Me," with James Cagney, really isn't that hot.))

I was raised in Christian Science. The social chats talk about how she could not acknowledge death, for her or for her animals. Her personal conservatism was all about CS. Written from a 70-yr-old who adored her as a child, had paper dolls and coloring books, was raised in CS and took a Sentimental Journey the last couple days. What a lovely lady - but remote - and I understand why.

Sounds like BTS she was the polar opposite of her Hollywood persona.

I like "With Six You Get Eggroll" with Brian Kieth, Barbara Hershey, Pat Carroll and George Carlin. TCM plays it all the time.

With Jamie Farr and William Christopher before M*A*S*H.