Doris Day, who was the top box-office star of the early 1960s, died this week at 97. Read these books to learn more about her life and career, and gain insight into who she was.

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DORIS DAY

Her Own Story

By A. E. Hotchner

305 pp. William Morrow and Company. (1976)

This book is Day’s autobiography, based on a series of interviews she granted to Hotchner. In the introduction, Day promises “no holds barred, no pandering to the public image.” True to her word, the book exposes the gap between her sunny reputation and the personal challenges she faced, including a violent first marriage and a third husband who embezzled her money, a fact she discovered only after his death. Despite these setbacks, “she has apparently never suffered from self‐pity — one of the most refreshing aspects of this untypical Hollywood biography,” our reviewer wrote.