After so many dirt-dishing, tell-all books about legendary stars, it's good to finally come upon one that was written by someone with a genuine respect for their subject. Author Thomas Santopietro's new 400 page biography, Considering Doris Day (Thomas Dunne Books) is a classy, well-researched volume that shines as an homage to one of Hollywood's last genuine legends. Nevertheless, the author does not steer away from covering the unsavory and controversial aspects of this remarkable woman's life. Day is all the more fascinating because she has shunned the spotlight for decades after entering self-imposed retirement. She has turned her back on the industry that made her an international star, preferring to live a quiet life and concentrate on her main passion: animal rights. Perhaps because she has not been on center stage in many years, her career has not been analyzed to the extent that her contemporary's have.
What I enjoyed most about Considering Doris Day is that the author doesn't fall into the trap of glossing over his subject's professional accomplishments to dwell on the more tawdry aspects of her personal life. This tends to be the case in most biographies, and even autobiographies of actors and actresses. (James Earl Jones relegates his entire involvement in the Star Wars legend to a sentence or two in his autobiography). Thomas Santopietro knows his subject and analyzes both Day's screen and recording career with insight and intelligence. He also dissects each of her films in detail, rendering interesting perspectives on their artistic merits - some of which will obviously be at odds with popular opinion. He also sees gay subtexts in some areas that many readers may find to be a stretch (as Groucho said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar") but in other cases may cause you to find an aspect to a film you might not have considered previously. Santopietro rightly lambasts many of Day's films, saying they were inconsequential. However, he defends the merits of others that have often been overlooked. He also takes issue with Day's perpetual reputation as the world's most impenetrable virgin. He makes a good case for why the characters she played were not as innocent and naive as popular lore would indicate. In her classic comedy Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson, for example, Santopietro points out that Day is less a naive virgin than a sophisticated, sexually mature woman who forestalls Hudson's seduction attempts simply because she won't be taken advantage of. Santopietro also claims the virgin monicker stuck partly because Day turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate due to the sexual content. This is a fascinating anecdote, but it doesn't seem likely that her decision added to her "goody-goody" reputation because the vast majority of the public has probably been unaware of this fact.
The author provides an amusing career scorecard in the back of the book in which he evaluates her albums and films with a rating system. The book is illustrated with black and white photos, but they are spread throughout the volume and consequently are printed on non-glossy stock that detracts from their impact. For the paperback edition, the publisher should consider a color insert section to do justice to the photos.
Doris Day's life has been tumultuous and heart-breaking. Some of her misfortunes have been self-imposed while in other instances, she has been a victim of fate. Considering Doris Day is a thoroughly engrossing and illuminating read about one of the entertainment industry's most fascinating legends. Don't "consider" this book, add it to your library. It's entertaining enough that I even forgive the author for trashing my own favorite Doris Day "guilty pleasure", The Glass Bottom Boat- Lee Pfeiffer
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