MovieChat Forums > Midnight Lace (1960) Discussion > Doris Day's hysteria scene

Doris Day's hysteria scene

posted 18 years ago by Jochno
42 replies | jump to latest

Doris Day coming down the steps becoming more and more upset until she is totally hysterical is the best depiction of its type I had ever seen in a movie!!! Reading the trivia item about this particular scene was interesting. Wow! Did she ever do a good job!!! Does anyone else agree? I just received the DVD of this movie which I didn't even know existed until I saw it mentioned by someone on the Midnight Lace message board who gave the web site where it could be ordered. Thank you to that person. I've always liked this movie.

[–] noveltylibrary 8 years ago

There's a reason it looked so real. From her autobiography "Her Own Story":

"To convey the terror of my reaction I re-created the ghostly abuses of Al Jordan [Day's first husband, 1941-1943]. In one scene in which I had to become hysterical, I imposed on myself that moment when I was pregnant and ill, and Al Jordan burst into my room, dragged me from the bed, and hurled me against the wall. I wasn't acting hysterical, I was hysterical, so that at the end of that scene I collapsed in a real faint. Everyone was terribly alarmed. The director, David Miller, suspended further production. I was carried to my dressing room. Marty and Ross Hunter [executive producer] hurried to my side. My pretend life and my real life had fused. I just can't walk away from a scene and shed my emotions."