The 1956 version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much " unfolds like a beautiful book, methodically and compellingly. Stewart plays an American doctor and Day is his wife, a retired singer.
They are vacationing with their young son, Hank, in Morocco, when they become embroiled in an International incident involving a planned assasination.
Their son is kidnapped and taken to London. Day and Stewart follow, where they attempt to get some answers and to locate their son, on their own, without the help offered by Scotland Yard. The film reaches it's exciting climax during a concert at Albert Hall in which Day suddenly realizes what is about to occur.
Without giving away some of the intricate plot twists and turns, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is like a breathtaking ride on a state of the art rollercoaster.
You cannot help but get caught up in the plight of Stewart and Day.
James Stewart and Doris Day seem like a real married couple, so easy and comfortable is their onscreen chemistry.
They banter and interact convincingly but there is also a strong indication that there may be some tensions lurking beneath the outer veneer.
Both actors play their roles with expertise and Day, in particular, shows range and versatility in her performance.
Que Sera Sera~Trailer from the movie!
Click on the link above to see where Doris Day lives today,
In her pet friendly Hotel.
Doris Day, in memory of her son, Terry Melcher, and to honor the professionals at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine,
has designated The Doris Day Animal Foundation to contribute a $75,000 grant to establish an endowed veterinary scholarship in shelter medicine, a specialty area of study, at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.
This first "Doris Day and Terry Melcher Scholarship" was created with funds donated to the non-profit Doris Day Animal Foundation, including a special memorial fund established in 2004 when Melcher passed away.
The endowed scholarship will be awarded annually, in perpetuity, to outstanding veterinary students working to improve the welfare of homeless animals.
One of America's most prolific actresses was born Doris Mary Ann Von Kapplehoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her parents divorced while she was still a child and her mother gained custody. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance.
She would sometimes dance with friends and, sometimes, just by herself. She had dreamed of being a ballerina, but an automobile accident ended whatever hopes she had of dancing on stage. It was a terrible setback, but after taking singing lessons, she seemed to find a new vocation, and began singing with local local bands.
It was while on one singing engagement that she met Al Jordan, whom she married in 1941. Jordan was prone to violence and they split after two years, not long after the birth of their son Terry Melcher, who later became a record producer.
In 1946, Doris married George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year.
Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros.
The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract (her early credits are often confused with that of another actress named Doris Day, who appeared mainly in B westerns in the 1930s and 1940s).
Her first starring movie role was as "Georgia Garrett" in Romance on the High Seas (1948). The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (1949) and It's a Great Feeling (1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the movies she made for Warners (in addition to having several hit records).
She made three films for the studio in 1950 and five more in 1951. In that year, she met and married Martin Melcher, who adopted her young son.
In 1953, she starred in the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), which was a major hit, and several more followed: Lucky Me (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and what is probably her best-known film, Pillow Talk (1959).
She began to slow down her filmmaking pace in the 1960s, even though she started out the decade in a hit, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960).
Her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, had made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade.
She didn't make as many as she had in that decade, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968).
Her husband died in 1968, and Doris never made another film, but she had been signed to do her own TV series, "The Doris Day Show" (1968).
That show, like her movies, was also successful, lasting until 1973. After her series went off the air, she made only occasional TV appearances. Today, at 86, she runs the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, California, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets. What else would you expect of America's sweetheart?
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