Hollywood legend Doris Day will have 'no funeral, no memorial and no grave marker'
Doris Day, who died on Monday, May 13, morning at the age of 97, will not be having a funeral.
In a conversation with People, the legendary Hollywood star's manager Bob Bashara revealed that she had made her wishes clear in her will. "No funeral, no memorial, and no [grave] marker," he said.
Bashara explained that Day didn't "like to talk about" a prospective funeral or memorial. "She didn't like death, and she couldn't be with her animals if they had to be put down. She had difficulty accepting death," he said.
"I'd say we need to provide for her dogs [after she died], and she'd say, 'I don't want to think about it' and she said, 'Well, you just take care of them'," Bashara recalled. "She had several when her will was written, and she wanted to be sure they were taken care of. She didn't like to talk about the dogs dying."
Day, an avid animal lover and animal welfare advocate, was brought up Catholic and became a practicing Christian Scientist after tying the knot with producer Martin Melcher. According to Bashara, Day "drifted away" from organized religion after Melcher's death in 1968. However, she remained a "spiritual person".
"She believed in God, and she thought her voice was God-given," he said. "She would say, 'God gave me a voice, and I just used it.'"
While Bashara is not sure why Day was reticent about the prospect of a funeral service, he said, “I think it was because she was a very shy person.”
"She never let her celebrity affect her and who she was, and she was always the little girl from Cincinnati who was extraordinarily talented and went out in the world and did what she loved to do despite herself," Bashara said. "She was guileless, and I had discussions with her about how popular she was, and she would say, 'I don't understand it' about why she was so loved."
"She knew her fans loved her from all the letters, and that meant a lot to her," he added. The manager and close friend of Day said her estate is set to be donated to charity according to her will.
Speaking of the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which the Hollywood beauty created in 1978, Bashara said, “The ultimate thing for it is to keep the foundation going."
Fans remembering Doris Day can visit www.dorisdayanimalfoundation.org to find out more.