Hollywood legend Doris Day dies aged 97

Hollywood legend Doris Day, whose films made her one of the biggest female stars of all time, has died aged 97.

The singer turned actress acted in films such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk and had a hit in 1956 with Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).

Her screen partnership with Rock Hudson was one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s and 60s.

In a statement, the Doris Day Animal Foundation said she died on Monday at her home in Carmel Valley, California.

It said she had been “in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia”.

“She was surrounded by a few close friends as she passed,” the statement continued.

Born Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff in April 1922, Day began her career as a singer aged 15. Her first hit, Sentimental Journey, became a signature tune.

Her films, which included Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and That Touch of Mink, made her known around the world.

But she never won an Oscar and was only nominated once, in 1960, for Pillow Talk, the first of her romantic comedies with Hudson.

Honours she did receive included the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2008.

Her last release, the compilation album My Heart, went to number one in the UK in 2011.

Source: bbc