Showbiz411

Legendary movie and singing star Doris Day will release her hit UK album “My Heart’ in America on December 2nd. Amazing Doris is 88. She’ll be the oldest person on the charts, older than Tony Bennett and anyone else within shouting distance. “My Heart”–a compilation of later unreleased recordings–includes tracks written and produced by her late great son Terry Melcher. Terry was a seminal figure in late 60s rock. He wrote “Disney Girls” for the Beach Boys, which Doris covers beautifully on “My Heart.”

Rather than trot around in tabloids and gossip rags, Doris has lived her post-celebrity life with great dignity. She’s been a huge animal rights activist and a popular figure in serene Carmel, California. Every celebrity should take a page from her book. She’s also refused to do interviews or make appearances–her last, I think, was to pick up a 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame award. The word is she may be doing some interviews now.

But she won’t be going to the LA Film Critics dinner in January to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. She will also not be showing up in public dressed as an egg, or wearing lingerie outside her clothes, or getting a DUI.

One great thing about Doris’s publicity for “My Heart”–she’s got plenty of friends willing to do interviews to support her. Clint Eastwood, her Carmel neighbor, is chief among them. But Doris doesn’t realize how beloved she is–or how much people want to see or hear her.

You can listen to “My Heart” at www.dorisday.com. The album is coming out independently here, by the way, on Arwin Records. Arwin is the same production company name Doris and late husband Marty Melcher had dating back to the 1950s. Cool.

PS Brian Grazer: this would be a great year to salute Doris’s movie career on the Oscars.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.