A lot of Hope has helped keep Doris well-grounded
Doris Day received a Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday — but she wasn’t there to accept it in person. The entertainer’s fear of flying kept her from traveling to Washington D.C. to meet with President Bush.
“I am deeply grateful to the president and to my country,” said the singer-actress, who turned 80 in April. “But I won’t fly.”
Day, who won an Oscar nomination for “Pillow Talk,” was named the No. 1 box office star four times and has received several gold records.
She also has been recognized for founding the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which, among other things, has sponsored 10 annual Spay Days to reduce animal overpopulation.
Day blames her fear of flying on too many overseas trips with Bob Hope entertaining U.S. troops.
“Bob would fly even if a cyclone was coming,” she recalled. “I saw him on his knees many a time. In fact, we were all on our knees.
“We flew in snowstorms, whatever, to get to the next show. When I hit the ground, I said, ‘Never again.’ “
Sounds like a royal pain to us
Queen Elizabeth II has stepped up the technology ladder for her latest portrait: a 3-D laser-light hologram titled “Equanimity.”
Designer Chris Levine, who has previously designed high-tech laser representations for rock stars such as Liam Gallagher of Oasis, took more than 10,000 images of the queen. She had to stay perfectly still for eight seconds to get a usable image.
“It was quite nerve-racking,” Levine said. “She was really obliging given that a strange man was telling her what to do.”
This time, the butler didn’t do it
Paul Burrell, the former Princess Diana aide who was to bring his one-man show to Manhattan for four performances this week, has canceled all but tonight’s performance because of poor ticket sales.
Sources said that fewer than 100 tickets were sold for the entire New York run of “In His Own Words.”
London critics were unkind to Burrell when his show opened Sunday at the Theater Royal Drury Lane, where he was heckled by some in the meager crowd of 300.
That’s Dr. Tambourine Man, to you
Bob Dylan accepted an honorary doctor of music degree Wednesday from Scotland’s oldest university, St. Andrews.
“Many members of my generation can’t separate a sense of our own identity from his music and lyrics,” professor of English Neil Corcoran said in an awe-struck address.
He added that Dylan “moved everything on to a place it never expected to go and left the deepest imprint on human consciousness. … His magnificent songs will last as long as song itself does.”
But no, no, no, he ain’t the Babe
Dylan, meanwhile, will embark on a somewhat less highfalutin adventure later this summer: a tour of minor-league ballparks across America with country legend Willie Nelson.
They’ll start Aug. 6 at Cooperstown, N.Y. (home of baseball’s hall of fame), and finish up in Kansas City on Sept. 4.
“What we aim to do with this tour is hit the ball out of the park, touch all the bases and get home safely,” Dylan said in a statement.
The birthday bunch
Actor Al Molinaro (“Happy Days”) is 85. Comedian Jack Carter is 81. Actress Michele Lee is 62. Drummer Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) is 62. Guitarist Jeff Beck is 60. Singer Colin Blunstone (The Zombies) is 59. Actor Peter Weller is 57. Actress Nancy Allen is 54. Actress Danielle Spencer (“What’s Happening”) is 39. Actress Sherry Stringfield is 37. Singer Solange Knowles is 18.