Very reclusive movie star icon Doris Day has turned her back on her Hollywood past and she is insisting her friends call her Clara and avoid all talk about her past image as America’s sweetheart. Biographer David Kaufman has studied the legend for his new book, Doris Day: The Untold Story of The Girl Next Door and insists she wants nothing to do with Hollywood ever again. Now known for her animal activism, Day leads a quiet life in coastal Carmel, California and refused to speak to Kaufman, a respected film critic, for his book. So he turned to her friends for a glimpse of what Day has become. He tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "She feels so completely disassociated from who Doris Day was."She signs her notes as Clara, she answers the phone as Clara." Kaufman claims Clara is a nickname she was given by her Tea For Two co-star Billy DeWolfe. Day’s birth name is Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff.
Comments
Doris aka Clara stole the hearts of many a little boy. I admire David Kaufman for writing an even handed account of Doris Day's life.
He revealed a very complex character, who retired from Hollywood over 30 years ago, and has shunned the spotlight for most of that time.
Sunny Doris Day has her flaws, don't we all. It is sad that love and true friendships have mostly aluded her. But to her countless fans, she is irreplaceable, a one of a kind movie star who always lit up the screen.