SALT LAKE CITY — Legendary actress and singer Doris Day has died at 97, according to The Associated Press. She passed away due to pneumonia.
Fans, colleagues and friends have taken to Twitter to express their love and loss for the Hollywood icon.
According to NPR’s Twitter account, Day starred in nearly 36 films and produced over 600 recordings, topping both billboard and box office charts.
Day was born in April 1922, and was raised by a single mother, according to a BBC obituary. She regularly attended dance classes and competed in local pageants. In 1945, she broke through into the entertainment industry with “Sentimental Journey,” which she recorded with the Les Brown Orchestra.
Over the next few decades Day would perform in musicals and movies, working with filmmakers and actors like Alfred Hitchcock, Rock Hudson, Clark Gable and Ronald Reagan. She later hosted the successful “Doris Day Show” for five seasons through 1973.
She was known for cultivating a wholesome, positive image and occasionally turned down roles that she saw as more risqué, according to AP. Day was also an advocate for animal welfare and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 for her entertainment and humanitarian work.
Other entertainers and fans have posted their thoughts and tributes on Twitter, recognizing Day for her sweet, thoughtful spirit, infectious laugh and natural talent.