Doris Day: The Illustrated Biography

by Michael Freedland

Chronicles the life and career of screen legend Doris Day, from her childhood in Cincinnati, through her four marriages, to her retirement and concern for animal rights.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2000

Reviews

[Amber]

Terrible biography. The writer had nothing to do with Doris Day. It's all his opinions on her life. If you want a good biography about Doris Day - read the one she co-wrote with A.E. Hotchner.

[Jane]

There is very little substance to this biography which seems to be mostly based on hearsay or the author's own musings. With no bibliography or index, there is no indication that he undertook much in the way of research. He mentions meeting Doris Day and a couple of people she worked with, but one senses that these were passing encounters rather than in-depth interviews. What saves the book is the photography, there are some gorgeous images which illustrate the text. So I've been more than generous with the rating. I would only have scored * without these.

[Johanna (jojreads)]

A very quick read, I enjoyed the illustrations almost as much as I did reading about Doris, although none of the information presented was new to me. There was a glaringly obvious error in recanting the plot of one of Doris’ movies, however, that irked me as I read. Otherwise, enjoyable but not earth-shattering.

[Beckie]

i love doris day - my favorite movie is pillow talk. the book - oh my. it was written by a brit. there are a lot of grammatical errors and repetitive phrases in the book. it talked a lot about her failed marriages and how much she liked sex. she made it big very quickly with her records, and then movies followed. the book was very sad to read, and i really wonder how much is true and accurate.

[Lisa]

i am facinated by the studio system and how they hide the real lives of their stars as opposed to today where we are haunted by paparatzzi and tabloid magazines

[Raymond]

The writing is atrocious, and hilariously, the final picture of "Doris Day" is actually June Allyson. I can't believe this even got published.

[Kimberly (kimmerthebooknerd)]

I've read numerous books on Doris. This was not my favorite as it was kind of choppy; however I loved the photos!

[Rachel]

Yawn...