R.I.P. Doris Day

She always reminded me too much of my mother to ever have been a crush: both were lightly-freckled natural redheads who went blonde; both with broad smiles and sweet singing voices; both with nearly unfailingly upbeat personalities (but look out for that temper).

It's only partially for that reason that I found Day one of the most convincing of screen mothers. In films like Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The Thrill Of It All and With Six You Get Eggroll, she brought oh-so-authentic qualities of affectionate exasperation, patient indulgence and privately eye-rolling resignation, along with the vaguely-distracted multi-tasking imposed on any mother of multiple offspring, and I believed every minute of it.