'Considering Doris Day' - an Interview with the Author

Tom Santopietro: Doris Day is the biggest female box office attraction in Hollywood history, an amazingly versatile talent who has always been my favorite singer, and she has never received her due. In this day and age of instant celebrity, of actors who are called stars with very little to back up that claim, I wanted to look at the real deal: a great singer and actress with a four-decade body of work to back it up.

Tom Santopietro: She had an enormous range, but made it all look so easy that people took the talent for granted. She could play everything from comedy (James Garner called her the Fred Astaire of comedy), to the heaviest of dramas, like Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, and musical dramas, like Love Me or Leave Me. Only the biggest of talents make it look effortless, but people didn't acknowledge how rare that is. People have a tendency to equate great acting with drunk scenes or beautiful actresses purposely appearing dowdy- it's why comedies are so rarely acknowledged in awards season.

Tom Santopietro: Doris was the biggest movie star in the world because she was equally appealing to men and women. Men found her sexy but also wanted to marry her, and women wanted to be like her, especially in the late '50s and early '60s. In those pre-feminist days, she played career women with great jobs in New York City. Doris Day had the rare ability to be equally believable as a career woman (Pillow Talk) and as a mother with children (The Thrill of It All). She was forthright, independent, aggressive yet utterly feminine. She was a symbol of the post-World War II optimistic and idealized America that was to be the world's "good guy." What I say in the book is that her like will never be seen again.

Tom Santopietro: I think the closest to Doris Day today is probably Renee Zellweger, who also has a wide range, from musicals like Chicago to dramas like Cold Mountain. Interestingly Renee and Ewan McGregor made Down with Love, in 2004, which was a direct homage to Doris and Rock but it didn't work; it was too self-conscious. They were too self-conscious, and we've changed too much as a country. We view everything through the lens of irony now.

Tom Santopietro: The movies that were most successful at the box office were Love Me or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and The Thrill of it All. The critics also liked The Pajama Game and Teacher's Pet, although few put Pillow Talk on their lists. Doris herself is most proud of Love Me or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The Thrill of It All.

Tom Santopietro: My favorite anecdote is that Doris cried throughout her entire screen test, and she wasn't supposed to be crying. She was being directed by Hollywood legend Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) and all she could think about was the fact that her marriage was breaking up, and that she wanted to go back to Cincinnati and see her mother and little boy. When Curtiz asked her if she wanted to be an actress, she came up with an indifferent "I suppose- I guess it might be interesting." Most women would have killed for that screen test. Sobbing or not, her talent flew off the screen and Curtiz knew it. She had star quality from ther very first moment on film.

Tom Santopietro: This is not a tell-all bio; it's a critical analysis of Doris Day's amazing body of work, placing her within the context of twentieth century American culture. Doris Day became a worldwide icon. Her success said a great deal about our country - she both reflected our culture and changed it. That sounds so serious. While this is a serious look at Doris, it's written in a conversational style and it's fun just to read the plotlines of kooky old scripts like Starlift. I hope your readers will re-discover some terrific old films. I recommend Teacher's Pet, I'll See You In My Dreams( the undiscovered gem of the lot) and the hilarious The Thrill of It All.