Doris Day

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922), is an American actress, singer, and animal rights activist. In the 1970s, she co-founded the "Actors and Others for Animals" society, and in newspaper advertisements that were paid for by that society, she spoke out boldly against the wearing of real animal fur. She also organized and promoted the annual Spay Day USA, and lobbied the United States Congress in support of legislation designed to safeguard animal rights. In 2006, The Humane Society of the United States merged with the Doris Day Animal League, and The HSUS now manages Spay Day USA.

Day's entertainment career began in her late teens as a big band singer. In 1945 she had her first hit recording , "Sentimental Journey", and, in 1948, appeared in her first film, Romance on the High Seas. During her entertainment career, she had appeared in thirty-nine films, recorded more than six-hundred-fifty songs, received an Academy Award nomination, won a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award, and, in 1989, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. In the 1980-90s, the pundits began the process of assessing her place in cultural history when CDs and DVDs of her work became widely available.

Day was married four times. First, to Al Jorden, a trombonist, who became the father of her only child, a son Terry, and, then, following their divorce, to George Weidler. When their marriage ended in divorce, she wed Martin Melcher and remained with him for seventeen years until his death in 1968. He adopted her son as Terry Melcher. Her fourth and last marriage to Barry Comden was brief and ended in divorce. She lives today in Carmel, California. As of 2009, Day is the top-ranking female box office star of all time, ranks sixth in the top ten of mostly male stars and shares their company with the only other female on the list, Shirley Temple.

From Wikipedia