Doris Day - 39 Movies in 20 Years!

"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." - Doris Day

"I want to tell the truth, and maybe that’s why they trust me. When I was acting, I believed what I said ... every line." - Doris Day

39 movies in 20 years (5 in one year alone)…, that is a record for any movie star, especially one so greatly underrated as Doris Day. And yet, when the chips are counted, most people do not realize that she is still the #1 female box office star of all time (and #11 over all) according to the Annual Quigley Poll. She is tied for # 6 in stars who have placed # 1 in the poll - tied with John Wayne and Shirley Temple. Her fans still cannot understand why she has not yet received the coveted Oscar…surely it must be an embarrassment to the Academy of Arts & Sciences that their #1 Female Box Office Attraction was never rewarded, except for a richly deserved single nomination for Best Actress in “Pillow Talk”. And most critics agree that it was a true blunder that she got no mentions for either Love Me or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Midnight Lace three films in which she held her own with actors like James Stewart, Jimmy Cagney, Rex Harrison and director Alfred Hitchcock. (Their comments uphold this.)

Doris embodied an image she never truly understood, and for much of her life, she sought a family ideal never achieved, becoming, in the process, the biggest box-office draw in the movie business at one time before choosing to step away. Doris Day became a phenomenon of sight and sound, a hit song machine in the first part of her career and, in the second, Hollywood's No. 1 female box-office star and the epitome of the girl next door.

Her composite film résumé became an American archetype - the pristine, bright-eyed sweetheart of America's neo-Victorian 1950s, even if she was far from her on-screen type. Though often successfully paired with leading man Rock Hudson in a series of iconic romantic comedies, off-screen she longed for what her characters always seemed to get in the end: the simple, stable existence of a housewife tending her corner of the American Dream.

In these pages, you will have the opportunity to see what made Doris tick in her films: from the early ones in the late 40’s and early 50’s, to those that made her the biggest star on the screen from the late 50's to the mid 60's. Take a stroll down movie lane and get in synch with the true essence of Doris Day as movie star.

Doris Discusses Her Movie Career on TCM

Check out our link to the Top 20 Girls Next Door in Movies. Guess who is number 1!

Will the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ever get it? "No More Que Será Será: Give Day Her Due!"

Visit our co-stars page for more info on the wonderful actors and actresses who starred along with Doris. We will be adding more every week.