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Hollywood icon Doris Day dies at 97

The starlet became an LGBTQ icon

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Doris Day. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Legendary actress and LGBTQ icon Doris Day died at her home in Carmel Valley, Calif. early Monday morning surrounded by close friends, according to the Doris Day Animal Foundation. She was 97.

“Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death,” the foundation said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press.

Born Doris Mary Ann Keppelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 13, 1922, Day began her career as a singer before launching into a film career. Day continued to record music making her one of the most recognizable singers of the 20th century.

Her first major movie role was in the 1948 film “Romance on the High Seas.” The role sparked a successful film career and Day became box-office gold.

She went on to star in the 1953 film “Calamity Jane,” as the title character. She sang the song’s hit “Secret Love.” The song eventually would become an LGBT anthem.

“Once I had a secret love / That lived within the heart of me / All too soon my secret love / Became impatient to be free,” Day sings. “Now I shout it from the highest hills / Even told the golden daffodils / At last my heart’s an open door / And my secret love’s no secret anymore.”

Day was known for her work and friendship with gay actor Rock Hudson, who died from AIDS-related complications in 1985. The pair starred together in films such as “Pillow Talk” (1959) and “Lover Come Back” (1961).

Her other notable projects included “Love Me or Leave Me” (1955) and the film adaptation of the Broadway musical “The Pajama Game” (1956). She also starred opposite James Stewart in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and performed the film’s title song “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).”

Day also starred in her own sitcom “The Doris Day Show” from 1968-1973.

Despite her robust film career, Day never won an Academy Award but was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 1959 for her role in “Pillow Talk.” In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush who said it’s “a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer.”

In later years, she shifted from Hollywood to animal welfare activism and founded the Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978.

Day reportedly requested to be laid to rest with “no funeral or memorial service and no grave marker.”

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Books

A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat

New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

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(Book cover image courtesy of Random House)

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages

Happy is the bride the sun shines on.

Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.

He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.

He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.

But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.

Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.

Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.

What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.

In short, this book is quite stunning.

Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.

If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch

LGBTQ politicians gather for annual event

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Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) speaks at the 2025 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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