Photo: Getty
It turns out Amerca's Sweetheart was a real life super heroine.
By Amy Lamare — Written on May 17, 2019
Doris Day died at her home in Carmel Valley, California on May 13, 2019. She was 97. She began her career in 1939 at 17 as a big band singer and had her first hits in 1945 with two number one songs "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown and His Band of Renown. She began her two decade long film career in 1948 with Romance on the High Seas. She is perhaps best known for a handful of roles including Calamity Jane (1953), Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Pillow Talk (1959), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Day was also known for her long on screen collaboration and deep friendship with Rock Hudson and for her commitment to animal advocacy. Doris Day, often called America's Sweetheart, was married four times and had one son, Terry Melcher. As it turns out, Doris Day, America's Sweetheart, may have saved her only son from being murdered. Did Doris Day save her son from being a victim of Charles Manson?
1. 10050 Cielo Drive
The infamous address in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon was the site of the Tate murders that included pregnant actress Sharon Tate in August 1969. The late Terry Melcher was a record producer and Doris Day's only child. He produced the Beach Boys' albums. As it turns out, he was renting the very same house that the Manson family would go on their killing spree at. He lived there just months before the infamous murders.
2. The Beach Boys connection
Melcher was hanging around the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson in those days. In Mike Love's memoir Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy, Love details Wilson's strange friendship with Wilson and how he introduced the serial killer to many of the friends of the Beach Boys, including Terry Melcher. In fact, in 1969, Manson went to Hollywood clubs with Melcher and Wilson regularly.
3. Manson knew he lived there
One day, Dennis Wilson dropped Terry Melcher off at his rental home at 10050 Cielo Drive. Manson was in the car. At the time, Melcher was living at the home at the top of a steep hill with his then girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen.
4. Melcher and Manson got closer
In 1969, Melcher started visiting Manson at Spahn Ranch, the headquarters for his "family." These visits were likely as a favor to Wilson. After all, Melcher was a record producer and Manson wanted to be a rock star. According to Love's memoir, Melcher wasn't impressed with Manson's singing voice and after his second trip to Spahn Ranch he told him that he would not help him achieve his dream of rock and roll stardom. Mason was infuriated. Love wrote: “Manson wouldn’t stand for it. Consumed by rage and seeking revenge against a corrupt society, he convinced his followers that the apocalypse was coming in a bloody race war, at the end of which he and his disciples would take over.”
5. Manson planned the Cielo Drive killings
Possibly as a result of Melcher's lack of help in the music industry, Manson focused his rage on the occupants of 10050 Cielo Drive. However, Melcher had moved out in January 1969 at the urging of his mom. Doris Day and her only son were very close. He told her about Manson and his antics, including his zombie-like followers and how he brandished knives. He also told his mom that Manson had been to the house on Cielo drive. Doris Day insisted he move out of the house as soon as possible. Seven months later, on August 9, 1969, Sharon Tate and four other people were murdered by associates of Charles Manson at 10050 Cielo Drive. Love wrote:“A mother’s intuition, perhaps, and it may have saved his life.”
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.