Quotes

The happiest times in my life were the days when I was traveling with Les Brown and his band.

The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it.

Some of the downbeat pictures, in my opinion, should never be made at all. Most of them are made for personal satisfaction, to impress other actors who say "Oh, God! what a shot, what camera work!". But the average person in the audience, who bought his ticket to be entertained, doesn't see that at all. He comes out depressed.

I like joy; I want to be joyous; I want to have fun on the set; I want to wear beautiful clothes and look pretty. I want to smile and I want to make people laugh. And that's all I want. I like it. I like being happy. I want to make others happy.

Learning a part was like acting out the lyrics of a song.

[on recording 'Secret Love' for the movie Calamity Jane (1953)] When I first heard 'Secret Love', I almost fainted; it was so beautiful. When we finally got around to doing the pre-recording, Ray Heindorf, the musical director at Warner's, said he'd get the musicians in about 12:30 so they could rehearse. That morning, I did my vocal warm-up, then jumped on my bike and rode over to Warner's - we lived in Toluca Lake at the time, which was just minutes from the studio. When I got there, I sang the song with the orchestra for the first time. When I'd finished, Ray called me into the sound booth, grinning from ear to ear, and said, "That's it. You're never going to do it better." That was the first and only take we did.

Almost all of Julie (1956) was shot on location in Carmel, which is a lovely resort town a little south of San Francisco. My co-star was Louis Jourdan, whom I liked very much. An amiable man, very gentle, very much interested in the people around him; we had a good rapport and I found talking to him a joy. We would take long walks on the beautiful Carmel beach, chatting by the hour.

If there is a Heaven, I'm sure Rock Hudson is there because he was such a kind person.

[on Rock Hudson] I call him Ernie, because he's certainly no Rock.

[on Ronald Reagan] Ronnie is really the only man I've ever known who loved dancing.

[on Cary Grant] A completely private person, totally reserved, and there is no way into him.

The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's widely publicized remark about my virginity, contributed to what has been called my "image", which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image.

[during the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush] I'm pulling for him every step of the way.

[1975] You don't really know a person until you live with him, not just sleep with him. Sex is not enough to sustain marriage. I have the unfortunate reputation of being Miss Goody Two-shoes, America's Virgin, and all that, so I'm afraid it's going to shock some people for me to say this, but I staunchly believe no two people should get married until they have lived together. The young people have it right. What a tragedy it is for a couple to get married, have a child, and in the process discover they are not suited for one another! If I had lived with Al Jorden for a few weeks, God knows I would never have married him. Nor would I have married George Weidler. But I was too young and too inexperienced to understand any of this. Now my heart was busted and I had lost my way.

[on Elizabeth Taylor's diamonds] When I see Liz Taylor with those Harry Winston boulders hanging from her neck, I get nauseated. Not figuratively, but nauseated! All I can think of are how many dog shelters those diamonds could buy.

[dismissing allegations that she "stole" husband Martin Melcher from his former wife, singer Patty Andrews] A person does not leave a good marriage for someone else.

[1975] The picture I made with Kirk Douglas, Young Man with a Horn (1950), was one of the few utterly joyless experiences I had in films. I was made to feel like an outsider, an intruder. Kirk and Betty [Lauren Bacall] had gone together once, and this picture brought them back together again, so I guess that had something to do with it. Kirk was civil to me and that's about all. But then Kirk never makes much of an effort toward anyone else. He's pretty much wrapped up in himself.

[1975] I was offered the part of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967) but I could not see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age whom I'd seduced. I realized it was an effective part but it offended my sense of values. Of course, in the years since then, explicit sex has become commonplace on the screen-so commonplace that it is considered novel when a film appears without a few naked bodies thrashing about. Now I really don't put anybody else down for doing such scenes. To each his own. Many actors enjoy doing these turns, and obviously many people enjoy watching them. I don't, either doing or watching. I can't picture myself in bed with a man, all the crew around us, doing that which I consider so exciting and exalting when it is very personal and private. I am really appalled by some of the public exhibitions on the screen by good actors and actresses who certainly have the talent to convey what they are doing without showing us to the last detail of pubic hair and rosy nipple how they are doing it.

[1975, on her late husband Martin Melcher] There was no funeral. No family gathering. Nothing. Marty was cremated without ceremony of any kind. That's the way he wanted it. I knew this, not from his instructions about his own death, which he had not anticipated, but from his remarks about funerals of departed friends, none of which we ever attended. I shared Marty's antipathy to funerals. I think grief is a very private matter, and that the public nature of a funeral is barbaric.

[2006] I've been through everything. I always said I was like those round-bottomed circus dolls - you know, those dolls you could push down and they'd come back up? I've always been like that. I've always said, "No matter what happens, if I get pushed down, I'm going to come right back up".

[2014] Helping animals has been a lifelong passion. They give us unconditional love and ask very little in return.

[2014] All I ever wanted in my life was to get married, have kids, keep house and cook, and even though I did all these things, I still ended up in Hollywood. It was a great trip. I've had an amazing life and wonderful times. And I'm happy!

[2014] My days are busy responding to the huge volume of mail I receive. I'm still floored by all the beautiful, heartwarming letters from people all over the world, telling me that my work somehow touched their lives.

[2014] Would you believe I'm still offered scripts and projects all the time? Every once in a while I think about working again, but they don't make the kind of movies I made anymore! It's a different world.

[2014, on her health at age 90] Oh, I have my little aches and pains now and then, like everyone. But I've truly been blessed with good health.

[2014] I love to be outside, walking along the beach or working in my garden. Those things are all quite enjoyable for me. I have everything I could ever want right here in Carmel!

[2006, on the Katrina rescue effort] Some [of the rescued animals] were quite ill and couldn't be put on the plane, so people drove to the Gulf Coast and brought the sick ones back by car. Both groups were accompanied by a veterinarian. They're coming in every few days from Santa Cruz and whenever they're brought in, I'm there. The hard part is that I want them all! There's another thing I'd like to mention here. People sometimes say, "Oh, Miss Day, I can't take another animal, I just can't replace my darling little dog." Many people, when they lose their pet, can't face getting another. I felt like that once, and then I realized my baby would understand, and would want me to give a home to another animal. I want people to know they're not replacing the one they lost. They're giving another wonderful little soul a home. I've done this over and over again, and have never regretted it. I've only been rewarded.

Vulgarity begins when imagination succumbs to the explicit.

If it's true that men are such beasts, this must account for the fact that most women are animal lovers.

[2006] By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) and On Moonlight Bay (1951) - I loved doing those. You know, if life could be like it was in those movies, it would be beautiful, wouldn't it?

Wrinkles are hereditary. Parents get them from their children.

I don't even like parties.

I always feel a rise in my scalp or in the backs of my wrists when something is special, whether it be a song or a man.

[2006] I had the best co-stars you could ever have, and I miss them so much. We had such a great time working together. Some years ago, I made a special with John Denver and was asked to sing "Memories", Barbra Streisand's song, which she did so beautifully. Then I was told that huge pictures of all of my leading men would be shown as I sang, and I said, "Oh my God, how do you expect me to get though that?" But I did it.

[on The Doris Day Show (1968)] There was a contract. I didn't know about it. I never wanted to do TV, but I gave it 100% anyway. That's the only way I know how to do it.

[2006, regarding the mistreatment of animals on the set of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)] Oh, well, I didn't want to act like a big shot; it wasn't like that. But I did go to Mr. Hitchcock [director Alfred Hitchcock], whom I loved dearly, and we had a long talk about it. I said "Hitch, I can't bear it, I can't bear to see what goes on here with animals." The horses were so thin, the donkeys were overburdened, and I was just horrified at the dogs running loose and starving. I told him I really couldn't work unless we fed these animals. And he said, "We're going to do that, I want you to just relax and know that they will be taken care of." But then I thought, once we leave, it will go right back to the way it was.

[2006, on the mistreatment of animals in cinema] Everything's acceptable in Hollywood now, it seems. I'm glad I'm not there, because I would be screaming. I hope and pray that the Hollywood stars who are making so much money really take a stand. It's hideous to have families watching these movies, and children seeing this portrayed as though it's okay.

I liked being married instead of the girl who's looking for a guy.

Middle age is youth without levity, and age without decay.

Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.

I've never met an animal I didn't like, and I can't say the same thing about people.

[on Pillow Talk (1959)] Every day on the set was a picnic - sometimes too much of a picnic, in that we took turns at breaking each other up.

[1996, on learning that husband Martin Melcher had committed to her to a television series, which became The Doris Day Show (1968), after his death] It was awful. I was really, really not very well when Marty passed away, and the thought of going into TV was overpowering. But he'd signed me up for a series. And then my son Terry [Terry Melcher] took me walking in Beverly Hills and explained that it wasn't nearly the end of it. I had also been signed up for a bunch of TV specials, all without anyone ever asking me.

I like to sing love songs. I like to sing others, too. There's so many that I love. I love them and I love singing them.

[on the independent working women she usually played in her romantic comedies] I didn't feel different in any of them, even though they were different. I loved being married, and I loved not being married but working on it. And doing what I was supposed to do and be. That's the way I worked.

[on singing 'Que Sera Sera' in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)] The first time somebody told me it was going to be in that movie, I thought, "Why?" I didn't think there was a place to put that song. I thought, "I'm not crazy about that. Where are they going to put it? For what?" I didn't think it was a good song.

[on recovering from injuries sustained in a 1937 car accident] 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.

[on the popularity of 'Que Sera Sera'] I thought that was wonderful, because it became that because of children. And then I understood it. Because it was for our child in the movie [The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)]. Then I realized, maybe it isn't a favorite song of mine, but people loved it. And kids loved it. And it was perfect for the film. So I can't say that it's a favorite song of mine, but, boy, it sure did something.

If I come across a doggie who needs a home, that's when I take them. They're in a special area - an outdoor area - but the ceiling is all glass and they look up there and see the trees. They have two big rooms inside and then one outside. They just love it.

[2017, just after the Associated Press discovered her 1922 birth certificate] I've always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it's great to finally know how old I really am!