Doris Day

Her paternal grandfather Franz Joseph Wilhelm Kappelhoff immigrated to the United States in 1875 and settled within the large German community in Cincinnati.

Day had two older brothers: Richard (1917–1919), who died before her birth, and Paul (1919–1957).

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer.

Day was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of German-American parents Alma Sophia (née Welz; 1895–1976) and William Joseph Kappelhoff (1892–1967).

She was named after actress Doris Kenyon.

Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a music teacher and choirmaster.

For most of her life, Day stated that she was born in 1924, but on the occasion of her 95th birthday, the Associated Press found her birth certificate that showed a 1922 date of birth.

She developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed in nationwide competitions.

Her father's infidelity caused her parents to separate in 1932 when she was 10.

On October 13, 1937, while Day was riding with friends, their car collided with a freight train, and she broke her right leg, curtailing her prospects as a professional dancer.

While recovering from her car accident, Day sang along with the radio and discovered her singing talent.

She later said: "During this long, boring period, I used to while away a lot of time listening to the radio, sometimes singing along with the likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. But the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words."

Day's mother Alma arranged for Doris to receive singing lessons from Grace Raine.

After three lessons, Raine told Alma that Day had "tremendous potential" and gave her three lessons per week for the price of one.

Years later, Day said that Raine had a greater effect on her singing style and career than had anyone else.

During the eight months when she was receiving singing lessons, Day secured her first professional jobs as a vocalist on the WLW radio program Carlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn.

During her radio performances, she first caught the attention of Barney Rapp, who was seeking a female vocalist and asked her to audition for the job.

According to Rapp, he had auditioned about 200 other singers.

She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown and His Band of Renown.

In 1939, Rapp suggested the stage name Doris Day because the Kappelhoff surname was too long for marquees and he admired her rendition of the song "Day After Day".

After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby and Les Brown.

In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies with the Les Brown band.

While working with Brown, Day recorded her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", released in early 1945.

It soon became an anthem for World War II servicemen.

During 1945–46, Day (as vocalist with the Les Brown Band) had six other top ten hits on the Billboard chart: "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time", Tain't Me", "Till the End of Time", "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)", "The Whole World Is Singing My Song" and "I Got the Sun in the Mornin.

She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.

Her film career began with Romance on the High Seas (1948).

She starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas and thrillers.

Day was one of the leading Hollywood film stars of the 1950s and 1960s.

She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart.

She costarred with Rock Hudson in three successful comedies including Pillow Talk (1959), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She also worked with James Garner on both Move Over, Darling (1963) and The Thrill of It All (1963) and starred alongside Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, David Niven, Ginger Rogers, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Rod Taylor in various films.

After ending her film career in 1968, only briefly removed from the height of her popularity, she starred in her own television sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).

The song continues to be associated with Day, and she rerecorded it on several occasions, including a version for her 1971 television special.

In 1989, Day was awarded the Golden Globe and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures.

In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 2008, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as well as a Legend Award from the Society of Singers.

In 2011, she was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award.

In 2011, Day released her 29th studio album, My Heart, which contained new material and became a UK Top 10 album.

, she was one of eight recording artists to have been the top box-office earner in the United States four times.