Doris Day Icon

1. Pedro Almodovar- motion picture director
Tracy Young writes: Almodovar!! “Who Inspires Spain’s X-rated Director? Doris Day, for One“.
Vogue v180, n6 (June, 1990):1242pages

2. Martin Scorsese
Michael Henry Wilson, reviewing 1995 A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES, 1995

As one would expect from Scorsese’s own movies, his tastes generally run to dark themes, and it’s clear that he’s drawn to feverish, overwrought melodramas such as DUEL IN THE SUN (1946) and LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1946). Even his choice of musicals dwells on the dark side, such as A STAR IS BORN (1954) or MY DREAM IS YOURS (1949), a seemingly escapist Doris Day movie, which he acknowledges as a major inspiration for NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977)

Turner Classic movies

Director Martin Scorsese would later cite My Dream Is Yours as a formative film experience in his book and documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies: “My Dream Is Yours had all the trappings of a Doris Day vehicle produced on the Warner Bros. assembly line. It seemed to be pure escapist fare. But the comedy had a bitter edge. You saw the performers’ personal relationships turning sour and being sacrificed to their careers….The film makes you aware of how difficult, if not impossible, relationships are between creative people. It was a major influence on my own musical, New York, New York. I took that tormented romance and made it the very subject of the film.”

In Scorsese and I — Part 1, Henry P. Raleigh writes in ART TIMES ( Aug, 2004)

Martin Scorsese was born in Flushing, grew up in Manhattan’s Little Italy. I was born in Manhattan, grew up in a Brooklyn neighborhood sprinkled with Romulus and Remus AC’s. I figure Flushing is very much like Brooklyn. So you see he and I, in a way, have a lot in common.
Now it seems, although unknown to me in 1995, that a BFI TV Production (with Miramax Films) ran a film called “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Films” on Channel 4. By way of some mysterious things that I don’t really want to know about, my youngest daughter, who has mysterious connections to the entertainment business in New York, gave me the tapes of the three parts of the film directed and written by Martin Scorsese and Michael Henry Wilson.
“A Personal Journey — Part 1″ concludes with a section on musicals. It’s a beauty, all right. Mr. Scorsese moves from the wonderful, often bizarre, dance routines of the Busby Berkeley “Golddigger” films of the 1930’s to the 1953 “Bandwagon” considered by him to be the peak of the musical genre. Shown here as well are a few, all too brief, scenes from Michael Curtiz’s “My Dream is Yours” of 1949 — I get pretty worked up at this one, I tell you. How can you beat Doris Day belting out the rapid-fire lyrics to Canadian Capers or Crooning the title song that had every teenager of that innocent time in a dead swoon. Yes, of course, I had a crush on Doris Day and I might have had one for Cyd Charisse in “Bandwagon” but I had gotten too old by then to kid myself any longer.

3. Woody Allen

Allen takes 20 minutes to talk about film
Liz Smith ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 16, 2005

Woody also speaks of the great education he garnered from films,
“That’s where I learned about life - screenings at the Museum of Modern Art, at the Thalia. It is different now, that passionate, innocent identification with movies. But you know, I saw Love Me Or Leave Me with Doris Day three days running when it was first released. And those imprints stay with you forever.”

4. Julianne Moore
As reported by Dennis Lim in the article, Heaven Sent Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore Reopen Douglas Sirk’s Melodrama Fakebook, in the Village Voice (October 30 - November 5, 2002)

Moore, it turns out, had a hand in the chromatic choices as well. Haynes, who conceived the film with Moore in mind, had written Cathy as a redhead. But the actress, thinking of “Doris Day’s voice and Lana Turner’s blondness,” convinced Haynes that she should wear a wig. “A redhead is marginal,” Moore explains. “We’re 4 percent of the population. We’re the best friend, the sexy one, or the funny one, but Cathy’s the classic American ideal. I wanted her to be the perfect blond with the perfect family. I wanted to see that person transform. Watching it, I realized I’ve never smiled so much in a film—I smile all the way through. I thought, oh my god, Cathy is the ultimate American optimist—and Todd has made a movie about the failure of American optimism.”

5. Motown’s  Berry Gordy:

As related by Arthur Kempton in Boogalloo The Quintessence of American Popular Music.

“His commercial consciousness was extraordinarily well attuned to the general American culture, and part of that had to do with Gordy’s own aspirations. After all, he was a man who got a crush on Doris Day after seeing her in the movies. He always had a very clear sense of where the culture in this country was headed, and possessed an extraordinarily shrewd attunement how to market the music he was producing“

6. Sly Stallone:

Acquaintance of Terry Melcher. Met Doris Day in the early seventies and recorded his own version of Que Sera Sera

 More famous fans of Doris Day:

PATRICK STEWART (”Jean-Luc Picard” - TNG) STARTREK web site (07.29.1999 )

Patrick played “Captain Jean-Luc Picard” on the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” television series and in three motion pictures.

Q: Which actress, past or present, would you most like to have co-star with you either on stage or film?
Geoffrey

PS: Hello Geoffrey. When I was younger, I was a big Doris Day fan. But, she wasn’t interested in me. There are so many brilliant actresses working in movies today. It’s hard to choose. But, if compelled to choose, I would probably put Meryl Streep at the top of my list.
(must do a separate section for men who had a crush on Doris Day)

TONY BENNETT (Singer) — “She’s gifted in a way that makes everything she does work. She’s a Hollywood producer’s dream: she has beauty, she’s a great actress, a wonderful singer — putting it simply, she has it all! (This was included in a CD release by Bennet in which he sang tributes to his favorite girl singers).

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY (Singer/songwriter) — “For many years I have thought of Doris as a great singer and actress. Classic films as varied as ‘Calamity Jane’ and ‘Pillow Talk’ illustrate this point clearly. When Heather and I recently had the pleasure of meeting Doris, we were delighted to find out that she also was a charming person and perhaps the ultimate animal lover. Suffice it to say, we are huge fans of this wonderful lady.” (from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

JOHNNY MATHIS (Singer) — “I always try to include songs by my favorite singers in my concerts. As Doris Day has always been one of my favorites, I sing ‘ Secret Love’ in every show I do. Doris Day was also one of the first celebrities to attend my night club performances when I first started out. She was always very kind to me. She’s a wonderful human being.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

ROSEMARY CLOONEY (Singer) — “I think the same thing applies to Doris’ acting as to her singing, it was seamless. I don’t think she was given nearly the credit that she deserved.” (from the PBS special “Sentimental Journey.”)

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN (Singer/pianist) — “From the first moment I heard Doris, I was carried away by the warmth and passion of her natural gift. She remains the high bench mark against which all other singers are measured. I listen to her voice constantly, for inspiration and joy.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

JO STAFFORD (Singer) — “Doris Day has always been a multi-talented lady, whether as a big band singer with Les Brown, a fine recording artist with Columbia, or a uniquely gifted motion picture star.” (from the Bear Family CD box set “It’s Magic.”)

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN — (Singer/actress) — I have always admired Doris Day for her beautiful voice that has such feeling and depth to it — she can sing any style and touch you — a true and rare gift — I admire her as both an artist and a woman.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

SAMMY CAHN (Songwriter) —”If I were going to open a talent agency, the first girl I would sign would be Doris Day.” (From his autobiography entitled “I Should Care.”)

LIZA MINNELLI (actress/singer) — “Doris Day is the quintessential performer. I love all her songs.” (forgot the source! Sorry!)

ANDY WILLIAMS (Singer) — I first met Doris Day when I was singing with my three brothers on radio station WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was 14 years old. I had a crush on her then and I still do. She had a voice so fresh you could smell it. She’s a terrific singer and a great lady.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

ROBERT GOULET (Singer) — “Doris Day is one of the grand ladies of song. She exudes sunshine with her acting and singing and just the mention of her name would bring a smile to one’s face. I adore her.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

MARGARET WHITING (Singer) — “Doris Day was such a big movie and T.V. star, people overlooked her singing…the proof is in the package. She’s one of the best singers there ever was.” (From the Bear Family Boxed Set “It’s Magic”)

PATTI PAGE (Singer) — “Doris Day has always been one of my favorites. She was given so much attention as a movie personality that people sometimes needed to be reminded how well she could sing.” (From the Bear Family Boxed Set, “It’s Magic”)

RAY EVANS (Songwriter) — “Doris Day has been a most important part of my life; how much she enriched my career with her ‘Que Sera, Sera.’ A great artist, actress and animal lover, Doris Day has brought the world a brighter day.” (From the Bear Family Boxed Set, “It’s Magic”)

ANNE MURRAY (Singer) — (To Doris, she said) “I know your first love is acting, but I’ve always thought you were one of the finest singers of all time, so underrated.” “Doris was my idol. I wanted to look like Doris Day, I wanted to sing like Doris Day. I wanted to be Doris Day. She was the best.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

FRANKIE LAINE (Singer) — “Doris was a great performer with warmth and expressiveness. It was one of the most pleasant recording dates I ever had when we sang together. She had a wonderful jazz vibrato voice and could have been one of the top jazz singers.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

ARETHA FRANKLIN (Singer) — “Eydie Gorme and Doris Day are two underrated singers.” (Forgot the source)

KELLY CLARKSON (American Idol winner) — “My friends make fun of me because I love Cary Grant, and I like Doris Day films,” (Magazine (?) interview)

PAUL WESTON (Conductor/arranger) — “She was a very expressive singer…she could take a lyric and to some extent act it out.” (Bear Family Boxed Set, “It’s Magic”)

LES BROWN (Big band leader) — “I’d say that next to Sinatra, Doris is the best in the business on selling a lyric.” (Biography, “Doris Day, Her Own Story.”)

SARAH VAUGHAN (Singer) — When asked to name her favorite singers, she replied “I dig Doris Day.” (From a bio on Sarah Vaughan)

BURT BACHARACH (Songwriter) — “I remember writing, with Hal David, 5 different versions of ‘Send Me No Flowers.’ Finally they picked the last one – we kept going because we really wanted her on the song. She did it great!” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

CYBILL SHEPHERD — “She (Doris) is one of the greatest vocalists that has ever lived. I adore her. I think she has been underrated for years.” ((from the CD “Doris Day … her life in music.”)

TOM SHALES (Pulitzer Prize-winning film, TV critic – Washington Post) — “At whatever she did, Day was a natural, a performer who embodied determined womanhood on the screen. In the 50s and 60s, that was no small accomplishment…A few years ago, Day reappeared after a long absence to accept an honorary Golden Globe Award. Seeing her again, warm and radiant, I realized how much I’d always loved her and how much I had missed her.” (From his syndicated newspaper column)

KITTY KALLEN (Singer) “I really like the way that girl sings.” (Quote from a local L.A. disc jockey who worked with Kitty Kallen)

WILL FRIEDWALD (co-author of the Tony Bennet bio “The Good Life” and author of “Sinatra: The Song Is You.”) — “Why isn’t Doris Day more widely celebrated as the great pop singer she was? The easy answer is that her enormous success as a movie star obscured other aspects of her talent…Miss Day embodies the best that pop singing has to offer.” (New York Times review of the Bear Family Boxed Set, “It’s Magic”)

NORMAN JEWISON (Motion picture director) — “Doris had wonderful comedic timing. This was, I think, because she had been a singer. People who sing, who have great rhythm — like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Judy Garland — all seem to have better timing than other actors. And that’s why Doris Day became queen of the romantic comedies. She was also an excellent dramatic actress, but because she didn’t have any training, people underestimated her.” (From an interview in Biography Magazine)

MICHAEL GORDON (Director-“Pillow Talk”) — “This girl has never had an acting lesson in her life. She has no technique but she draws on a wellspring of emotion and experience that makes her one of the finest instinctive actresses in the world.” (Forgot!)

UMA THURMAN (Actress) —  As a child I watched a lot of musicals. One of my absolute favorites was - you won’t probably believe it - Doris Day. She had this certain elegance and she was also a sunshine (person). (Recently interviewed doing publicity for “My Super Ex-
Girlfriend.”)

BILL O’REILLY (Cable newscaster and author) — “For my eyes, she is simply the prettiest, most all-American actress ever. She is also a comedian with a deft touch. It’s become chic or something to laugh at just about everything about the 1950s, and that includes such Doris Day classics as ‘Pillow Talk.’ Well, go out and rent one of her hits, and you might be surprised. They’ve gotten better with age. In her personal life, Ms Day apparently had a great many disappointments, but she does not whine publicly, and she has devoted herself to doing great work with abused animals. In case you have no idea who I’m talking about, the closest thing we have to Doris Day on today’s screens is Debra Messing, star of TV’s “Will and Grace.’ I hope she learns from her predecessor how to have a memorable career and a dignified public image.” (From his book, “The O’Reilly Report”)

MICHAEL CURTIZ (Film director) — “There’s more than obvious reasons for the success of Doris Day. She has something that goes beyond her talent for singing and acting — she has heart — a warm, feeling heart that reaches out and this is something no one can give her. She was born with it.” (Forgot!)

GEORGE T. SIMON (One-time editor-in-chief of Metronome Magazine, producer of jazz and pop recordings and author of “The Big Bands”) — “…and  Doris Day, now THE band singer in the field, who is singing better than ever and displaying great poise.” (From a book on the Big Band Era)

DENVER PYLE (co-star on “Doris Day Show”) — “This girl is no lollipop, and she’s no girl next door. She’s an actress and a fine one; a woman and a complete one. The press has always taken the easy way out with her. They’ve missed by a mile. Working with Doris has to be a thrill for an actor who knows his trade, because she so definitely knows hers.” (Magazine interview ???)

DELBERT MANN (Motion picture director) — “Doris was a vitally alive and attractive lady, and one of the best comediennes around, with a hearty laugh and a joyous spirit.” (From a limited release autobiography)

ROGER EBERT  (Film critic) — “I was starting out as a film critic at just about the time Doris Day’s movie career was ending, and I was not kind to her in several reviews. Perhaps movies like “Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?” deserved to be mocked, but still — I was being a smart-ass and knocking Doris Day because, in the atmosphere of the late 60s, she was a fashionable target. Had I forgotten how much I enjoyed her in “Young at Heart,” or Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” or “Pillow Talk,” or “Teacher’s Pet?” Later, when I went back and looked at a lot of her films, especially “Love Me or Leave Me,” I saw an enormous talent. I realized that with Day I had not followed Robert Warshow’s advice (“a man goes to the movies, the critic must be honest enough to admit he is that man.”). I had not acknowledged that I liked and admired a lot of what she had done.”  (From his book “Roger Ebert’s Book of Film”) In his t.v. review of the motion picture “Down With Love” — “I don’t believe anyone will equal whatever it was that Doris Day had; she was one of a kind. Doris Day was a great star, and some day the record will be set straight on that.”

STEVE ALLEN (comic, songwriter and author) — “Doris Day is one of the best comedic actresses ever in movies.” (quote from his appearance with Doris on The Mike Douglas Show … 1976)

ERNIE KOVACS (comedian and actor) — “She is beyond acting when in front of the cameras. She’s so fine that I find myself watching her eyes, her breathing, her thinking. She does precisely what the character would do under the circumstances, but with the added intelligence of putting it into acting form, so that it’s great theater. And unlike so many movie stars, she ignores completely the caste system. Neither men nor women who work with her have to worry about being given a sleazy wardrobe or ending up on the cutting room floor. I like her every bit as well as a person. She is honest — refreshing in this world of perfidious  broads, the smilers, the actresses…with Doris, you don’t have to worry about a façade.” (From a book whose name escapes me!)

JACK LEMMON (Actor) — “Doris Day is the best actress I have worked with to date (1958). That includes the dolls on the stage in New York and in television. And I think she is potentially one of the greatest actresses I’ll ever work with… because in every scene she is so open, simple and honest that I found myself in the position of having to play up to her. Which in the parlance of actors means she’s so good that I automatically reacted to her. Doris gets a line on a scene and that’s it — boom — she comes on so forcefully that she transports fellow actors right into the scene with her. When I watched the rushes and she was funny, I doubled up. And when she was unhappy in a scene I sat there and cried. I’ve never done that before. She’s a wonderfully attractive woman with strength, and vitality and energy, none of which lack femininity. She is definite, there’s nothing wishy-washy about her. Her laugh for instance, it’s a real cackle, full and open-hearted.” (Same book … SORRY!)

JAMES GARNER (Actor) — “Doris Day is the Fred Astaire of comedy.” “She exuded sex, but made you smile about it.” (From “Doris Day, Her Own Story”)

ROD TAYLOR (Actor) — “I’ll tell you this much about Doris Day: I love that girl! She’s one of the greatest pros I’ve ever worked with. I’ve been going to the rushes every day on this picture [Do Not Disturb], which is something I never did before; all I can say is that I haven’t recognised myself because of her. I can’t put my finger on it, but whatever it is, Doris brings out great things in a man. We play a happily married couple who fight like mad, but make up like crazy, and I’ll think you’ll agree that she has all the warmth and sex and charm in the world. The studio seems to think we have a sort of… chemistry. Anyway, they’ve thought enough of us to team us in another picture called “The Glass Bottom Boat”. (Sorry, again!)

TONY RANDALL (Actor) —  “Brilliant! The most talented actress I’ve ever worked with! Even SHE doesn’t know how good she is.” (From a guest appearance on “The Larry King Show.”)

HOWARD MORRIS (Director of “With Six You Get Eggroll”) About Doris: “a director’s dream…letter perfect on the first take…” He also noted that he hoped to get the chance to direct her again. in her next film. (?????)

JOAN CRAWFORD (Actress) — “What a sweet girl, and such a fine actress; she deserves all her success.” (????)

REX REED (Film critic) — Doris Day was one of the truly perfect women ever to grace the screen. She was smart, funny, warm, beautiful in a sunny, wholesome way and surprisingly, unfailingly sexy. She was such a natural and charismatic force that without a single acting lesson, she seized the screen from her very first appearance (in the 1948 musical Romance on the High Seas) and remained a superstar for 20 years, and she was—and still is—one of the really flawless singers of all time. What it lacks in fatal doses (“Down With Love”) is what Doris Day had plenty of—the kind of style that left her fully defined and the rest of us clamoring for more. (From his review of “Down With Love” in the New York Observer)..

EDIE ADAMS (Singer-actress) — “Everything she did, she did perfectly. We all wanted to be like her.” (Quote from PBS special, “Sentimental Journey”)

JAMES HARBERT (Music arranger/conductor “I Have Dreamed” album) — The re-released Sony CD is Doris Day at her loveliest and dreamiest. Classical divas, from the Met no less, have told me how they marveled at Doris Day’s vocal sensitivity, her consummate musical phrasing, and her ability to turn a popular lyric into sheer poetry…I was pretty young when we made the album for Columbia Records. It’s another example of Doris’ legendary kindness (not only to animals) that she trusted me with great songs by the likes of Noel Coward, Kurt Weill, her friend Paul Francis Webster, and Livingston and Evans who wrote the incredibly beautiful ‘We’ll Love Again’ which Doris sang in the Alfred Hitchcock film, ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much.’…all I can add about Doris Day? She is incomparable.” (Quoted on Amazon.com)

OTHER FANS

CELIA CRUZ (Latino music legend) — Cites Doris as an early influence.

BERRY GORDY (founder of Motown Records) — A big fan. In his early years, he wrote a song especially for Doris. Had a tearful meeting with her a few years back in Carmel.

HELEN MIRREN (Actress) — Her two favorite actresses? Doris and Judy Garland.

LARRY KING (cable TV host) — Puts Doris at the top of his “dream” interview list.

BONNIE HUNT (Actress) Raved about Doris in a TV Guide interview.

MARY WILSON (Singer)

BELINDA CARLISLE (Singer-Go-Gos) - For years, she has planned to do a cover album of Doris songs.

SUZANNE SOMMERS (Actress, author, singer) - Expressed her admiration for Doris on the Larry King Show.

BONNIE RAITT (Singer) - Once cited Doris as one of her favorite singers.

LONI ANDERSON (Actress) - Doris is her favorite actress and singer. (Quoted on “Entertainment Tonight”)

DEBORAH HARRY (Singer/Blondie) — She’d love to play Doris in a movie, Always loved her – “underneath her wholesome exterior, beat the heart of a true sex goddess and a very strong woman.”

GEORGE CLOONEY — Doris was his first movie crush. “There was something about her that was so cool.” (Quoted in People Magazine)

LEONARD SLATKIN — FAMED SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR. Used to see Doris at his home when she visited to see famed orchestra leader (Felix?) Slatkin. He’s always had a crush on her.

KATIE HOLMES (Actress) - told of her admiration for Doris in a Seventeen Magazine interview.

PETER MURPHY (Singer/group Bauhaus) His first obsession (at five years old) was Doris Day. “I loved her!” he gushes. “She was this mythical, perfect, wonderful lady who lived in America. I sang along to her records all the time.”  

(Howard’s research)