This week marks the 100th birthday of silver screen legend Doris Day.

The American actress and singer debuted as the female lead in the 1948 Warner Bros. musical romantic comedy Romance on the High Seas.

She went on to perform in other Warner Bros. musicals including Tea for Two, Lullaby of Broadway, Calamity Jane and Secret Love.

But it was her movie career than spanned two decades and nearly 40 films – with Day often presenting a patriarchal, nigh-mythical image of womanhood – for which she's most remembered.

Day starred in movies including The Man Who Knew Too Much, Julie and The Pajama Game, but her best role came in 1959’s light-hearted romantic comedy Pillow Talk, for which she earned an Oscar nomination in the best actress category.

The late Oscar-nominee passed away in 2019 at the age of 97.

In honour of her birthday, RadioTimes.com recalls some of her best movies, celebrating an illustrious career that will be remembered for many decades to come.

10 best Doris Day movies

Showing 1 to 10 of 10 results

  • Move Over, Darling

    Comedy starring Doris Day and James Garner. Five years after she is presumed to have died in a plane crash, Ellen Arden returns home to find that she has just been officially pronounced dead, enabling her husband Nicholas to marry his new fiancée.
  • Pillow Talk

    Romantic comedy starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Interior decorator Jan Morrow shares her phone line with philandering songwriter Brad Allen, a man she despises. Meeting a handsome Texan, she is favourably struck by the difference between the two men.
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much

    Thriller starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Dr and Mrs Ben McKenna's touring holiday of North Africa is rudely interrupted when a passing acquaintance dies in their arms - stabbed in the back. While the local police are questioning the couple, they learn that their son Hank has been kidnapped.
  • The Pajama Game

    Doris Day stars as head of a factory grievance committee, but the sparks fly when she falls for a new company foreman. Adaptation of the Broadway musical hit starring, John Raitt and Carol Haney
  • Lover Come Back

    Romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. When New York advertising executive Carol Templeton discovers that unscrupulous rival Jerry Webster is after a lucrative new account, she tries everything to steal it away from him - unaware that the product in question doesn't even exist!
  • That Touch of Mink

    Romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and Doris Day. Wealthy businessman Philip Shayne meets unemployed Cathy Timberlake under inauspicious circumstances when Shayne's limousine splashes mud on her dress. But his suave manner soon wins her over.
  • The Thrill of It All

    Doris Day and James Garner star in this comedy about an ordinary housewife who accepts a highly paid advertising job, shattering her pampered husband's domestic bliss as he is forced to cope with her new-found celebrity. With Arlene Francis and Edward Andrews
  • Send Me No Flowers

    A hypochondriac who mistakenly believes he has only a few weeks to live decides not to tell his wife - and also sets about finding her a suitable second husband to succeed him. Romantic comedy, teaming Rock Hudson and Doris Day with Tony Randall, Paul Lynde and Edward Andrews
  • The Glass Bottom Boat

    Romantic comedy starring Doris Day and Rod Taylor. Young widow Jennifer Nelson is employed as a public relations assistant by Nasa where she catches the eye of her boss, Bruce Templeton. But Bruce is also working on a top-secret project and as their relationship develops, the CIA begin to wonder whether Jennifer could be a Soviet spy.
See more Doris Day news and features

Authors

Molly MossTrends Writer

Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.

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