Doris Day Biography

Fast Facts

• Initially aspired to become a professional dancer, but abandoned her plans when, at age 14, her leg was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident
• Made her film debut in the 1948 musical Romance on the High Seas; final big-screen appearance was in the 1968 comedy With Six You Get Eggroll
• Sang the Oscar-winning song "Que Sera, Sera" (in the 1956 film The Man Who Knew Too Much), which appeared on the National Endowment for the Arts' list of the top 365 Songs of the Century
• Marty Melcher, her manager and third husband, reportedly squandered nearly $20 million of her earnings during their marriage and left her deeply in debt when he died in 1968
• Released a revealing autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, in 1975
• After largely retiring from the entertainment business in the late '70s, devoted herself to the cause of animal welfare
• Was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, but fear of flying kept her from traveling to Washington, DC, to accept the award from President George W
• Bush