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Culture > Entertainment

Hollywood Legend Doris Day’s Death

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UC Riverside chapter.

 

Doris Day, a well known Hollywood actress in the 50’s and 60’s died May 13, 2019 at age 97. People said that she was doing extremely well for her age, but she, unfortunately, caught a bad case of pneumonia.

 

Doris Day was admired for her comedic roles in movies such as Calamity Jane (1953) and Pillow Talk (1959). She was able to play a variety of characters and win awards for her talented use of expressions. A lot of her roles were involved strong women in power which encouraged woman that watched her to take leadership roles. She was feminine and used her sex appeal to her advantage, but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t independent and fierce.

 

Day also had a notable music career and had hits like “Sentimental Journey” and “Que Sera Sera.” She toured with the Les Brown band and made a name for herself before going to acting.

 

(Photo courtesy of etcanada)

 

When Doris Day married her husband Martin Melcher, he began managing her career but only got the uninteresting roles that caused her to lose her passion for acting. Day stopped film when he died, but she did sign on for five seasons of “The Doris Day Show” which ended 1973. This was her final act besides doing TV appearances every once in a while.

 

(Photo courtesy of etcanada)

 

Doris Day was a huge animal lover and established the Doris Day Animal Foundation “to help animals and the people who love them.” She helped against the fight of testing on animals and puppy mills, advocating for animal rights from the time she established DDAF to her death. People say that although she was a celebrity, she wasn’t afraid to do some of the heavy lifting herself. She was known to have fostered and adopted hundreds of animals in her own home.

 

(Photo courtesy of apnews)

 

Through her many years of life, Day managed to leave behind a positive legacy. She was loved by close friends who spoke of her happiness and kindness, and she did many things for animal rights as well as American film and music.

20 year old creative writing major with a love for skincare, representation, and art. When not laying down and watching cartoons, I can be found working on my novel or browsing through baby name forums.
Hi, I'm Savannah. I'm currently a Senior at UCRiveride studying Sociology. After graduation, I'm looking into doing Public Relations with a media and entertainment company. My favorite things to do are find the best shopping deals and go on road trips.