Box Office Attractions - DORIS DAY

My buddy Tom over at Motion Picture Gems, which by the way is an awesome blog, has frequent posts about the box office rankings of classic movie stars. They are very fun and informative to read. I am starting a new series called Box Office Attractions which will focus on different stars and their box office rankings over their careers. And my first star is Doris Day.


Doris was one of the biggest film stars at one time. From the late 40's through the mid 50's she had a top 20 hit film every other year. But she hit her peak from 1959 - 1964. She had at least one top 20 film every year during that period, some years she had two. Here is the list of her hit films from that period:


PILLOW TALK (1959) Film rank that year: (7) Box office earnings: $7.7 million

PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (1960) Film rank that year: (10) Box office earnings: $5.4 million

MIDNIGHT LACE (1960) Film rank that year: (19) Box office earning:s $3.5 million

LOVER COME BACK (1961) Film rank that year: (8) Box office earnings: $7.6 million

THAT TOUCH OF MINK (1962) Film rank that year: (5) Box office earnings: $7.9 million

MOVE OVER, DARLING (1963) Film rank that year: (11) Box office earnings: $6.0 million

THE THRILL OF IT ALL (1963) Film rank that year: (13) Box office earnings: $5.3 million

SEND ME NO FLOWERS (1964) Film rank that year: (19) Box office earnings: $4.1 million


Now that is impressive, no matter who it is. Doris Day was one of the top female stars in film of all time. And yes, she had major male co-stars usually paired with her, but she was as much part of these films successes as were Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, James Garner and the others. So I tip my hat to the lovely and extremely talented Ms. Day for being so successful and starring in such well loved films.



Box office numbers found at http://www.boxofficereport.com/