Rock Hudson called her 'Eunice' because he said that whenever he thought of her as Eunice, it made him laugh.
Oscar Levant quipped, "I've been around so long, I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin".
A close friend and vocal supporter of President Ronald Reagan.
According to her autobiography, she got the nickname Clara Bixby when Billy De Wolfe told her, on the Tea for Two (1950) set, that she didn't look like a "Doris Day," but more like a "Clara Bixby." To this day, that remains her nickname among a close circle of old friends, such as Van Johnson.
After her Pillow Talk (1959) co-star Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985, Day told the press that she had never known he was a homosexual.
Also referenced in the song, "What do we do? We fly!" from the musical "Do I Hear A Waltz?" by Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim.
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush [June 2004]. She did not attend the White House award ceremony because of her intense fear of flying.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 133-134. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Briefly dated Ronald Reagan shortly after his divorce from Jane Wyman when she and Reagan were contract players at Warner Brothers. Day told him that he was so good at talking that he should be touring the country making speeches. At the time, the future Republican President was a Democrat.
Childhood idol was Ginger Rogers, with whom she starred in Storm Warning (1951).
Day turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967). The role went to Anne Bancroft.
Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom but declined to attend the ceremony because of a fear of flying. Day did not accept an invitation to be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors for the same reason.
Doris Day developed an early interest in dance, but a car accident on October 13, 1937, damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer. While recovering, Day took singing lessons, and at 17 she began performing locally.
Doris Day founded The Doris Day Animal League which was merged into The Humane Society of the United States in 2006.
Doris Day was in a relationship with Jack Carson early in her career before leaving him for Martin Melcher.
Doris Day's entertainment career began in the 1940s as a big band singer. In 1945 she had her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey".
Doris Day's mother named her after her favorite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. (By coincidence, in the mid 1970's when Day wrote her autobiography, Kenyon was her neighbor on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills.)
Doris Day's mother, Alma Sophia Welz, was a housewife and her father, Wilhelm (later William) Kappelhoff, was a music teacher and choir master. All of her grandparents were German immigrants.
Doris' second husband was George Weidler a saxophone player and former child actor. His sister was MGM child actress Virginia Weidler.
Has a 1982 hit song by the hugely popular Dutch 80s ska-pop band Doe Maar named after her.