Doris Day filmography

Doris Day in a studio publicity portrait for her 1960 film Midnight Lace.

Main article: Doris Day

The filmography of American actress Doris Day consists of 39 feature films released between 1948 and 1968. She began her career as a band singer and eventually won the female lead in a Warner Bros. film Romance on the High Seas (1948) replacing Betty Hutton. She went on to star in several minor musicals for Warners, including Tea for Two (1950), Lullaby of Broadway (1951), April in Paris (1952), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), and a hit musical, Calamity Jane, which gave her an Academy Award-winning song, "Secret Love" (1953). She ended her contract with Warners after filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra.

Day then campaigned for more dramatic parts. Her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955) with James Cagney, was well received by critics and was a box office hit. However, her follow-up films, Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Andrew L. Stone's Julie (1956), and George Abbott and Stanley Donen's film version of The Pajama Game (1957) were less successful among the critics and the public alike.

Day's star attained greater heights with the success of Pillow Talk in 1959, alongside Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. She, Hudson, and Randall were later teamed for Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). In 1960, Day ranked #1 at the box office. She reached #1 at the box office again in 1962 and stayed there until 1964. Day went on to star in several other romantic comedies, including That Touch of Mink (1962) with Cary Grant, The Thrill of It All, and Move Over, Darling (both 1963), both with James Garner. After the failure of Do Not Disturb in 1965 and being labeled "The World's Oldest Virgin", Day's film career began to decline. She last ranked as a top ten box office star in 1966 with the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat. Her final films Caprice, The Ballad of Josie (both 1967), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, and her final film With Six You Get Eggroll (both 1968) were critical flops, but achieved reasonable success at the box office.

When her film career ended, Day turned to television with her situation comedy The Doris Day Show (1968–1973), which ran for five seasons and 128 episodes, and made several other television appearances throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Due to her love of animals, Day launched another TV series, Doris Day's Best Friends (1985–1986), which ran for 26 episodes. She was an honoree at The 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008 and was last seen in archive footage in a 2009 documentary What a Difference a Day Made: Doris Day Superstar.

Film appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	Romance on the High Seas	Georgia Garrett	Her feature film debut. Co-starring Jack Carson. Song "It's Magic" nominated for an Oscar.
1949	My Dream Is Yours	Martha Gibson	Co-starring Jack Carson.
	It's a Great Feeling	Judy Adams	Co-starring Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan; with Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Edward G. Robinson, Sydney Greenstreet, Gary Cooper, Jane Wyman, Patricia Neal, Danny Kaye, Eleanor Parker.
1950	Young Man with a Horn	Jo Jordan	Her first dramatic role. Co-starring Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall.
	Tea for Two	Nanette Carter	Co-starring Gordon MacRae. Adaptation of Broadway musical No, No, Nanette
	The West Point Story	Jan Wilson	Co-starring James Cagney
1951	Storm Warning	Lucy Rice	Co-starring Ronald Reagan, Ginger Rogers and Steve Cochran
	Lullaby of Broadway	Melinda Howard	Co-starring Gene Nelson
	On Moonlight Bay	Marjorie "Marjie" Winfield	Co-starring Gordon MacRae Based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington.
	I'll See You in My Dreams	Grace LeBoy Kahn	Co-starring Danny Thomas
	Starlift	Herself	Her name appeared first in the on-screen credits.
1952	The Winning Team	Aimee Alexander	Co-starring Ronald Reagan
	April in Paris	Ethel  "Dynamite" Jackson	Co-starring Ray Bolger
1953	By the Light of the Silvery Moon	Marjorie "Marjie" Winfield	Co-starring Gordon MacRae A sequel to On Moonlight Bay.
	Calamity Jane	Calamity Jane	Co-starring Howard Keel Introduced Academy Award-winning song Secret Love
1954	Lucky Me	Candy Williams	Co-starring Robert Cummings and Phil Silvers
1955	Young at Heart	Laurie Tuttle	Co-starring Frank Sinatra
	Love Me or Leave Me	Ruth Etting	Co-starring James Cagney
1956	The Man Who Knew Too Much	Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna	Co-starring James Stewart. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Introduced Academy Award-winning song Que Sera, Sera
	Julie	Julie Benton	Thriller co-starring Louis Jourdan
1957	The Pajama Game	Katherine "Babe" Williams	Co-starring John Raitt. Adaptation of Broadway musical
1958	Teacher’s Pet	Erica Stone	Co-starring Clark Gable
	The Tunnel of Love	Isolde Poole	Co-starring Richard Widmark Golden Globe and Laurel nominations for Golden Globe Award for Best Female Performance - Musical or Comedy|Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical
1959	It Happened to Jane	Jane Osgood	Co-starring Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs
	Pillow Talk	Jan Morrow	Her first film with Rock Hudson Academy Award-nominated for Best Actress. Golden Globe Award-nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy. Laurel Award for best female comedy performance.
1960	Please Don't Eat the Daisies	Kate Robinson Mackay	Co-starring David Niven
	Midnight Lace	Kit Preston	Thriller co-starring Rex Harrison Golden Globe and Laurel Award nominations for Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
1961	Lover Come Back	Carol Templeton	Her second film with Rock Hudson. Laurel Award for best female comedy performance.
1962	That Touch of Mink	Cathy Timberlake	Co-starring Cary Grant. Won Laurel Award for best female comedy performance.
	Billy Rose's Jumbo	Kitty Wonder	Adaptation of Broadway musical Golden Globe Award-nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy
1963	The Thrill of It All	Beverly Boyer	Co-starring James Garner
	Move Over, Darling	Ellen Wagstaff Arden	Co-starring James Garner. Remake of My Favorite Wife (1940). Initiated as Marilyn Monroe's unfinished film Something's Got to Give. Golden Globe Award-nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy
1964	Send Me No Flowers	Judy Kimball	Her third and last film with Rock Hudson. Won the Laurel Award for best female comedy performance.
1965	Do Not Disturb	Janet Harper	Co-starring Rod Taylor
1966	The Glass Bottom Boat	Jennifer Nelson	Co-starring Rod Taylor. Nominated for Laurel Award, best female comedy performance.
1967	Caprice	Patricia Foster	Co-starring Richard Harris
	The Ballad of Josie	Josie Minick	Co-starring Peter Graves and George Kennedy
1968	Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?	Margaret Garrison	Laurel Award nomination for best female comedy performance.
	With Six You Get Eggroll	Abby McClure	Co-starring Brian Keith; her last film. Laurel Award nomination for best female comedy performance.

Box office ranking

For a number of years, American movie exhibitors voted Day among the most popular stars in the country:

• 1951: 9th
• 1952: 7th
• 1953: 11th
• 1954: 18th
• 1955: 14th
• 1956: 12th
• 1957: 17th
• 1958: 15th
• 1959: 4th
• 1960: 1st
• 1961: 3rd
• 1962: 1st
• 1963: 1st
• 1964: 1st
• 1965: 3rd
• 1966: 8th

Television appearances

• The 21st Annual Academy Awards (1949; TV special)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952; short)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood on the Ball (1952; short)
• So You Want a Television Set (cameo) (1953; short)
• A Star Is Born World Premiere (1954; short)
• What's My Line? (1954; mystery guest)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1956; 2 episodes)
• What's My Line? (1957; mystery guest)
• The 30th Annual Academy Awards (1958, co-presenter; TV special)
• This Is Music (1958; 1 episode)
• The 31st Annual Academy Awards (1959, co-presenter; TV special)
• The 32nd Annual Academy Awards (1960, co-presenter/nominee; TV special)
• Every Girl's Dream (1966; short)
• The Doris Day Show (1968-1973; 128 episodes) Golden Globe nomination.
• The Merv Griffin Show (1970; 1 episode)
• The Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff Special (1971; TV special)
• The Pet Set (1971; 1 episode)
• The Merv Griffin Show (1973; 1 episode)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1973; 1 episode)
• AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to James Cagney (1974; TV special)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1974; 1 episode)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1975; 1 episode)
• Doris Day Today (1975; CBS TV special)
• Doris Day's Best Friends (1985–1986; 26 episodes)
• The 46th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1989, winner; TV special)
• Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey (1991; TV documentary)
• Vicki! (1993, 1 episode)
• Homeward Bound (1994; TV documentary)
• Don't Pave Main Street: Carmel's Heritage (1994, Narrator; documentary)
• The Doris Day Story: Everybody's Darling (1998; TV special)
• A&E Biography: Doris Day (1998, archive footage)
• The 50th Annual Grammy Awards (2008, honoree; TV special)
• What a Difference a Day Made: Doris Day Superstar (2009, voice only; documentary)

Bibliography

• Kaufman, David (2008). Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door. New York: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-905264-30-8.
• Santopietro, Tom (2007). Considering Doris Day. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press. Emphasis is more on body of work than on her personal life.