The CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory made Kaley Cuoco one of the richest women in television, propelling her to move on to bigger and better things. In 2017, The Flight Attendant actress founded her own production company, Yes, Norman Productions, which played a role in bringing her latest gig The Flight Attendant to the small screen. In a recent interview with Glamour, Cuoco shared her excitement about other upcoming projects, including A Season With Mom, a project based on a book about a baseball-loving mother and daughter pair, and a limited series based on the life of Hollywood icon Doris Day.
Cuoco stated that she was looking forward to taking some time off, needing to put her feet up and let someone else board the plane, then let it come back. In the case of the Doris Day series, which is based on A.E. Hotchner’s 1976 biography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, Cuoco will be landing that plane herself as she is set to play the part of the Pillow Talk actress.
Doris Day’s Life Was Far from the Wholesome Image Hollywood Tried to Project
Cuoco told Glamour that the Doris Day project is a dream of sorts and promising it won’t be your typical biopic, saying:
“She’s so iconic – America’s sweetheart, an animal lover, dancer, etc. Finding more about her life is another example of you never know what someone’s going through. She was going through so much behind the scenes.”
Indeed, and she went through it all with a smile for the public over a 70-year career span. In later years, Day would herself dispel Hollywood’s labeling her as a “wholesome virgin.” Doris Day wrote:
“After 27 years of band singing, radio, nightclub appearances, recording, movie and television acting, my public image is unshakably that of America’s wholesome Virgin, the girl next door, carefree and brimming with happiness. An image, I can assure you, is more make-believe than any film part I ever played.”
By her own account, Day was married at age 17 to a psychopathic sadistic trombonist named Al Jorden who physically abused her and was the father of her only child, Terry Melcher (later adopted by her third husband Marty Melcher). After refusing to get an abortion, Jorden beat Day in a failed attempt to force a miscarriage. He once struck his wife repeatedly for receiving a gift from a male colleague, berating her for “running up those stairs so all the men could take a good look up your skirt.” A schizophrenic, Jorden died by suicide in 1967.
Day was married to her third husband, film producer Marty Melcher, from 1951 until his death in 1968. After his death, Day discovered that Melcher mismanaged her $20 million fortune, leaving her broke and had a secret plan to wipe out the millions she made. She also learned that her late husband had signed her name to a contract for a television series wherein he received a large advance. The money, which was to be used for production costs, had already been spent and Day was supposed to begin filming just six weeks after hearing about it.
Doris Day’s son, Terry Melcher, was a music producer who sort of inadvertently made a name for himself outside the recording studio. With aspirations of becoming a recording artist, the infamous Charles Manson had auditioned for Melcher, but he declined to sign Manson. Melcher once lived at the house on Cielo Drive, site of the Sharon Tate murders. Although some theorized Melcher was Manson’s target all along, Manson family members said they knew Melcher had moved from the home. In fact, Susan Akins told a grand jury that the house was chosen “to instill fear into Terry Melcher because Terry had given us his word on a few things and never came through with them.”
Terry Melcher preceded his mother in death on November 19, 2004, following a long battle with melanoma. He was 62. Doris Day died on May 13, 2019, after having contracted pneumonia. She was 97.