Movie Flashback: ‘Pillow Talk,’ Starring Doris Day And Rock Hudson, Turns 65

The year was 1959. The stars were Doris Day and Rock Hudson. And the movie was Pillow Talk, the first of their three romantic comedies together.

Today the still irresistible Pillow Talk turns 65.

Pillow Talk tells the tale of a New York interior decorator named Jan Morrow (Doris Day) who, sight unseen, takes an enormous dislike to Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a playboy song writer who shares her party-line phone. A party-line, of course, was a telephone line shared by multiple subscribers. And this song writer, who constantly ties up the line to woo his romantic conquests, learns by accident that his angry phone-sharer is the kind of woman he would like to know better. Being fully aware that his real identity will get him nowhere, Brad wangles an introduction under an assumed name and personality.

The set is now staged for some romantic hijinks, which as expected has a happy ending.

This was Hudson’s first comedy following a slew of dramas on his film resume. And, for Doris Day, Pillow Talk transformed her image from "the girl next door" to sudden sex symbol.

The supporting cast of Pillow Talk includes Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter and Nick Adams. And the reviews were mostly positive, with five Academy Award nominations (resulting in a win for Best Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen). Day and Ritter, who played much the same role that she played in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window — the dour, wisecracking working-class woman - were nominated in the categories of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

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Pillow Talk was a box office hit, grossing approximately $18,750,000 domestically (which translates to over $202 million today). It was number one at the U.S. box office for seven consecutive weeks. And, in 2009, Pillow Talk was entered into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and preserved.

Fun factoid: Ross Hunter, who produced Pillow Talk, claimed that theater managers did not want to book it. Popular movie themes at the time were war films, westerns, and spectacles. They felt the “sophisticated comedy” format was out of style. And they were concerned that both Day and Hudson had already peaked.

Following the success of Pillow Talk, a sequel in 1960 called Baby Talk was consideration, but never moved forward. Nor did a sequel for the film in 1980, set 20 years after the original film ended. But Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall reteamed for two additional romantic comedies: Lover Come Back in 1961 and Send Me No Flowers in 1964.

Today, 65 years later, we celebrate Pillow Talk as a lively, witty, charming, smart, fresh and funny “bedroom comedy.”