CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. — In a rare and deeply personal reflection, screen legend Doris Day opened up about her heartfelt admiration for singer-songwriter John Denver, describing him as one of the most genuine people she ever encountered in an industry often defined by pretense and performance.
In remarks that shed new light on her private world, Day, who passed away in 2019, spoke candidly about the bond she felt with the “Rocky Mountain High” singer, emphasizing his humility, his love for nature, and the profound emotional honesty that she believed set him apart from his peers. “I thought John Denver was one of the most genuine people I ever met in show business,” she said. “That is not something you could say about everyone.”
Born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Day rose from a heartbreaking childhood and a catastrophic car accident to become one of the most beloved voices and faces of the 20th century. Her dream of being a professional dancer was shattered by the accident, but the long recovery in a hospital bed led to her discovery of her true calling: singing along with the radio began a transformation that would produce monumental hits and command the internet’s attention decades later.
By 1945, her work with the Les Brown band had resulted in “Sentimental Journey,” an anthem that touched a battered nation and solidified her stardom. That success paved the way to Hollywood, where she enchanted audiences in “Romance on the High Seas,” “Calamity Jane,” and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” during the making of her song “Que Sera Sera.”
Yet for all her on-screen privilege and comfortable smile, Day’s life away from the spotlight was filled with emotional turbulence. Her four marriages ended in heartbreak, financial strain, and disappointment, and she was often haunted by trying to silence the past. But in John Denver, she said, she found an kindred spirit.
“When I heard him sing about sunshine, about country roads, about the beauty of the mountains, I felt he was singing directly from his own heart,” she revealed. So there was no pretending. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
He was sharing his heart.”
Day emphasized that Denver’s humility, something she related to her longing for simplicity in her later California life, made him unique. “He was a superstar, but he never acted like one. He didn’t have an ego that filled the room.
He had a kindness about him, an openness, and respectfulness in that conversation that is rare.” She noted that they both worked to use their platforms for something more than accolades, particularly in the realm of the humane and the care for the earth.
Her grief over Denver’s unexpected death in a plane crash in 1997 was tangible. “I cried when I heard the news. It felt like the world had lost a gentle poet.
We don’t have enough of those.” urging that his legacy be treasured, not just for his melodies, but for the reminder of life’s profoundly simple truths and the beauty that exists if we only choose to see it.
