Doris Day - the Illustrated Biography (Hardcover)

Doris Day is an icon of our times. One simply has to mention the titles of some of her most famous songs - "Secret Love", "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" and "Que Sera, Sera" to name a few - to identify immediately the attractive blonde who made mothers worldwide hope that their sons could bring home someone just like her. She dressed so exquisitely that girls all over America wanted to wear the kind of swishing skirts that were her trademark. Yet this is only part of the Doris Day story: the life of the girl born Doris Kappelhoff in April 1924 has been much more interesting and, in its way, more tragic than the films she starred in with Cary Grant and Rock Hudson might lead us to believe.She married four times, the third of which ended in disaster; it was only after the death of that husband, Marty Melcher, that she discovered he had not only squandered her $20 million fortune but had left her with $500,000 worth of debts. For the past twenty years, she has devoted much of her time to animals, for whom she provides a "hotel" at her home and runs an animal ambulance service. In this beautifully illustrated biography of a unique star, Michael Freedland tells the remarkable story of a screen legend, as well as documenting her life away from the cameras. It is a story full of twists and turns that will surprise and delight her millions of fans throughout the world.