Doris Day
1980s and 1990s

In October 1985, the Supreme Court of California rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment awarded to Day in her suit against him for legal malpractice and upheld the conclusions of a trial court and an appeals court that Rosenthal had acted improperly. In April 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's judgment. In June 1987, Rosenthal filed a $30 million lawsuit against lawyers whom he claimed had cheated him out of millions of dollars in real-estate investments. He named Day as a codefendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained." Rosenthal claimed that much of the money that Day had lost was the result of the unwise advice of other attorneys who had suggested that she sell three hotels at a loss, as well as some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio. He claimed that he had made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for about $7 million, and their estimated worth in 1986 was $50 million.

Terry Melcher stated that his father's premature death saved Day from financial ruin. It was not known whether Martin Melcher had himself been duped by Rosenthal, and Day stated publicly that she believed him to be innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, stating that he "simply trusted the wrong person." Author David Kaufman asserts that Day's former costar Louis Jourdan, maintained that Day disliked her husband, but Day's public statements regarding Melcher appear to contradict that assertion.

Day was scheduled to present, along with Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch, the award for Best Original Score Oscar at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but she suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend.

Day was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement in 1989. In 1994, Day's Greatest Hits album entered the British charts. Her cover of " Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps " was included in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom.
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