Screen legend Doris Day has died aged 97

Hollywood icon Doris Day has died at the age of 97, according to her foundation.

The screen legend was one of the biggest female stars of her time, and starred in blockbusters including Calamity Jane.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed the singer and actress died early on Monday at her home in Carmel Valley, California.
 

The foundation said in a statement that the animal rights activist was surrounded by close friends and “had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia.”

Her wholesome screen presence stood for a time of innocence in 1950s and 1960s movies. She starred in romantic comedies Pillow Talk, Midnight Lace and Love Me or Leave Me, acting alongside leading men including Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Rock Hudson.

Her hit songs included Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera), from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which she appeared with James Stewart.

Her squeaky-clean image was referenced in the 1971 musical and 1978 movie Grease, in the song Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee.
 

With her cheerful, alliterative stage name, the smiley blonde occupied a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe. The running joke, attributed to both Groucho Marx and actor-composer Oscar Levant, was that they had known Day “before she was a virgin.”

Her 1976 tell-all book, “Doris Day: Her Own Story,” chronicled her money troubles and three failed marriages, contrasting with the happy publicity of her Hollywood career.

“I have the unfortunate reputation of being Miss Goody Two-Shoes, America’s Virgin, and all that, so I’m afraid it’s going to shock some people for me to say this, but I staunchly believe no two people should get married until they have lived together,” she wrote.

She never won an Academy Award, but Day was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, as George W. Bush declared it “a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer.”

More to come