Doris Day Celebrates Her 96th Birthday — See the Exclusive Portrait

Mike Miller
Updated

Hollywood legend Doris Day is celebrating her 96th birthday!

Retired since 1973, she lives quietly in Carmel-by-the-sea, California, her adopted hometown, which is throwing her a weekend birthday bash that will also help raise funds for her pet cause: the Doris Day Animal Foundation.

“I am blessed with good health and so fortunate to be surrounded by loving friends and fans who have traveled so far to help raise money for the precious four-leggers,” Day told PEOPLE. “It means a great deal to me and I am so grateful for their support.”

The festivities began on March 29 with a fan-run bingo night at the Cypress Inn, which featured Doris Day-themed bingo led by Jackie Joseph, who costarred with Day in the 1968 movie With Your Six You Get Eggroll and, later on, The Doris Day Show. Then, on Friday, singer Scott Dreier performed some of Day’s hit songs.

Doris Day 2018.
Doris Day 2018.

The weekend will wrap up Saturday with a screening of With Six You Get Eggroll followed by a Q&A with Day’s co-stars John Findlater, Jimmy Bracken and Jackie Joseph.

The Cypress Inn also debuted a special cocktail in honor of Day’s birthday called the “Flirtini,” which is composed of Smirnoff vodka, Cointreau, pineapple juice, Pol Clement Brut, and fresh lemon zest, which will be available for guests to sip throughout the weekend and until Day’s birthday on April 3.

All proceeds from Day’s birthday weekend celebration benefit the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which the actress founded in 1978 to rescue and protect animals.

For information on the festivities please visit the dorisdayanimalfoundation.org.