Hollywood legend Doris Day, whose films made her one of the biggest stars of all time, has died aged 97.
The singer turned actress starred in films such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk and had a hit in 1956 with Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).
Her screen partnership with Rock Hudson is one of the best-known in the history of romantic movies.
In a statement, the Doris Day Animal Foundation said she died on Monday at her home in Carmel Valley, California.
Doris Day: America’s girl next door
It said she had been “in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia”.
“She was surrounded by a few close friends as she passed,” the statement continued.Born Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff in April 1922, Day originally wanted to be a dancer but had to abandon her dream after breaking her right leg in a car accident.
Instead she began her singing career at the age of 15. Her first hit, Sentimental Journey, would become a signature tune.
Her films, which included Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and That Touch of Mink, made her known around the world.
But she never won an Oscar and was nominated only once, in 1960, for Pillow Talk, the first of her three romantic comedies with Hudson.
Honours she did receive included the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2008.
Her last release, the compilation album My Heart, went to number one in the UK in 2011.
Culled from:BBC
