Actress, singer, and American sweetheart Doris Day was born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff in 1922 and discovered her love of singing early on. She started her career at the age of 18, crooning to keep America’s spirits up through World War II. She then made the jump to the big screen and brought her musical talent with her, singing “Secret Love” in the musical Western Calamity Jane and “Que Sera, Sera'' in Hichcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. In all, she recorded more than 650 songs and starred in more than 40 films, cementing her legacy as an entertainment powerhouse.
Day retired from the entertainment industry in the 1970s to focus her attention on advocating for animals — a lifelong passion of hers. Through the Doris Day Animal Foundation and the Doris Day Animal League, she helped countless animals escape abuse and get the medical attention they needed. She even established a national Spay Day (the fourth Tuesday in February) to increase awareness around the need for spay/neuter surgeries.
Day passed away in 2019 at the age of 97 with her three rescue pups by her side. Upon the sale of her estate, the proceeds were donated to animal charities. She became famous for singing and acting, but her legacy is one of care and devotion, as the following quotes attest.
Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.
I like joy; I want to be joyous; I want to have fun on the set; I want to wear beautiful clothes and look pretty. I want to smile, and I want to make people laugh. And that’s all I want. I like it. I like being happy. I want to make others happy.
Well, I do find the beauty in animals. I find beauty everywhere. I find beauty in my garden.
I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.
I always felt that making a living wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, and I decided I was going straight ahead and try to be as uncomplicated as possible. The important thing in life is just living and loving.
If I can do it, you can do it. Anybody can.
I’ve been through everything. I always said I was like those round-bottomed circus dolls — you know, those dolls you could push down and they’d come back up? I’ve always been like that. I’ve always said, No matter what happens, if I get pushed down, I’m going to come right back up.
The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you’ll grow out of it.
I’ve never met an animal I didn’t like, and I can’t say the same thing about people.
We can’t change the past. I think you have to get through the bad times to appreciate the good things in life.
Photo credit: Keystone Press/ Alamy Stock Photo
