One of the most popular and successful American multimedia stars to emerge since the end of WWII and the most forward-looking heroine in popular culture of the 1950s and 60s. Day entered films in 1948 after a brief but highly successful singing career as a band vocalist, and for the next two decades virtually defined the wholesome blonde girl-next-door type in musicals, dramas and innocent but sly sex farces. Day became an immediate star with her debut film, "Romance on the High Seas" (1948), and was one of the last stars developed under the old studio system by Warner Brothers, starring in such nostalgic light musicals as "On Moonlight Bay" (1951) and "I'll See You in My Dreams" (1952). She also showed promise in drama ("Storm Warning" 1950) and raucous comedy (at her most tomboyish in the cult classic "Calamity Jane" 1953) when given a chance. Day's rich alto voice and supple dramatic phrasing also enjoyed considerable success on the pop singles ("It's Magic", "Secret Love") and album charts through the 40s and 50s.

Leaving Warners in 1954, Day achieved her screen peak in three fine films made almost back-to-back: the intense dramatic musical "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955), Alfred Hitchcock's remake of his 1934 thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956, introducing her signature song, "Que Sera Sera") and Stanley Donen's vibrant musical comedy, "The Pajama Game" (1957). Day's popular peak, however, came directly thereafter, when she left musicals and starred in a series of teasing sex farces in which desirable upscale leading men (most often Rock Hudson) attempt to break through Day's prim and proper exterior. "Teacher's Pet" (1958), opposite Clark Gable was a charming warm-up for these films, but it was the smash success of "Pillow Talk" (1959), opposite Hudson, which began Day's complete domination of boxoffice polls for over half a decade in films which wags said cast her as "the world's oldest living virgin". Sometimes clowning broadly, Day did her professional best, bringing her trademarked brand of sunshine and fine comic timing to these variable and sometimes rather smarmy farces, the best of which was probably the satirical "Lover Come Back" (1961).

After her screen career petered out in 1968, Day immediately embarked on the mild TV sitcom, "The Doris Day Show", which opened with "Que Sera Sera", typecast her as a bright career woman and stayed high in the popularity ratings for the length of its five-year run. It was only after the death of Day's husband-manager Marty Melcher that it came out that he had entrusted the majority of Day's substantial earnings to a lawyer who flagrantly squandered them. Day's income from her show supported her lengthy court battle, and since the close of her series she has been largely retired, devoting most of her energies to pet adoption and animal rights advocacies.