Doris Day, the bubbly blonde with the girl-next-door image who became a household name in the 1950s/60s for Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk is still going strong at 97. She was the top ranking female star in musicals with Gordon MacRae and rom-coms with Clark Gable and Rock Hudson but since retiring from acting three decades ago has lived a private life apart from her promotion of her animal welfare foundation.
She was born 3 April 1922 at 4.30 pm Cincinnati, Ohio, USA into a family of German immigrants. The reality of her life behind her eternal-optimist, virginal screen persona could not have been more different Her unfaithful father split from her mother; she had a car crash in her teens which ruined her dancing ambitions, was attracted to violent and cheating men, had multiple affairs and four bad marriages – all of them hidden from view by the studio PRs. There’s Hollywood for you.
She has a 7th house wants-a-partner Aries Sun in a confident, demanding, inspirational Fire Grand Trine to Mars in Sagittarius trine Neptune in Leo, so definitely suited to showbiz. This is formed into a Kite with Sun opposition Jupiter, making lucky, successful Jupiter the driving planet. Her Sun is also square a controlling 10th house Pluto in Cancer as well as in the expansive opposition to Jupiter and North Node (and Saturn). She was tough with Saturn Pluto, control-freaky and wouldn’t always be popular amongst those close with a focal point Pluto; and prone to highs and lows with Jupiter Saturn.
Her mother would have been pushy and controlling with her 10th house Pluto and a 10th house Moon conjunct MC in an emotionally volatile opposition Mars. It left her with a legacy of troubled relationships; and she was prone to tantrums in her working life which is not surprising. Her Venus in Aries is deeply buried in her 8th so she clearly was attracted to intense relationships – certainly had an action-packed romantic life.
Her strongest Harmonic is the ‘super-star’ 22nd; next the ‘victim’ 12th; and she had a reaching-for-the-heights 5H which combined Neptune Pluto with Venus and Mars – so destined for great things though not always happiness.
She wasn’t a great actress, but she ended up a great person with her commitment to saving animals. I did love her in Pillow Talk and The Man Who Knew Too Much. She was the all-American ideal during her acting years. Thanks for your analysis.
Doris Day and I have very compatible charts. If I’d been born 40 years earlier and on the other side of the world who knows what might have happened?
That all makes sense, Doris Day was wonderful in The Man Who Knew Too Much, I always felt she was more natural in a role that expressed deeper emotions, leave it Alfred Hitchcock to expose the truth behind the actor.
A very revealing and interesting reading re Ms. Day. Obviously she’s a bit more complicated than her famously sunny image. Have great respect for her work on behalf of animals. The Doris Day Animal League (ddal.org), which she founded in 1987, is a potent force that has effected a lot of positive legislation vis-a-vis animal welfare.