1952 Pop Hit, From an Actress Who Sang an Oscar-Winning Song in a Hitchcock Film, Reached No. 1

Doris Day was an iconic actress and singer who released over 650 songs throughout the course of her career. Her 1952 hit "A Guy Is A Guy" rose to number one on the Billboard chart 74 years ago.

The song, which was written by Oscar Brand, was released by Columbia Records. The lyrics, which some now find controversial, include: "I walked down the street like a good girl should. He followed me down the street like I knew he would. Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be. So listen and I'll tell you what this fella did to me."

In a 2012 NPR interview, the actress spoke about her singing career. She explained how she originally started out performing with Les Brown and His Band of Renown, but she eventually went solo. "The first time I ever worked alone, I had two shows a night at The Little Club on East 55th St. in New York," she said. "I opened it. My mother was with me and my little baby. It was something so new for me. I thought, what am I doing? I was so used to having the guys behind me. But it turned out to be really nice. The people kept coming back! I was surprised!"

One of her most famous moments took place in The Man Who Knew Too Much from Alfred Hitchcock. She performed "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," which went on to win an Oscar for the Best Original Song.

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However, Day wasn't a fan of the song at first. "Well, the first time that somebody told me it was going to be in that movie, I thought, why? Because the movie, you know how horrible it was toward the ending when our boy was kidnapped. And I didn't think that there was a place to put that song. And I heard the song before I knew what the story was completely. But then they tell me that that's going to be in the movie. I thought, why?"

In addition to appearing in the classic Hitchcock film, Day played the lead in several other Hollywood films, including Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk. She also had her own series, The Doris Day Show, from 1968 until 1973.

Day died in 2019 at the age of 97.

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 9:23 AM.