'My Three Sons' Former Child Star Stanley Livingston Dog-Bonded with Doris Day During 'Daisies'

Photo bystanleylivingston.com

In 1960, former child star Stanley Livingston (best known from TV’s My Three Sons) appeared with film icons Doris Day and David Niven in the feature film classic, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. Livingston soon learned he and had something in common.

A Closer Look

In the movie, Please Don't Eat the Daises, a drama professor turned theater critic (David Niven) balances his home life and career when he moves to the country with his wife (Doris Day) and their four sons (one of whom is played by Stanley Livingston).

In a recent social media post, Livingston talked about how he and Day shared a common interest in and love for canines while making the movie. “Our bond was our love for dogs,” he said.

“At the end of production on Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” he continued, “I was given the brother to the sheepdog who played HOBO in the movie. Somehow, I think [Doris] had something to do with that.”

A Few Daisy Side Notes

As a side note, Please Don’t Eat the Daises was one of several projects in which Doris Day performed her signature song “Que Sera Sera” from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

In Daises, Day sings a verse from “Que Sera Sera” to David Niven in an Italian restaurant.

The film is based on the best-selling autobiographical book of the same name, written by Jean Kerr, wife of powerful New York theatre critic Walter Kerr. The characters’ names were changed, but most of the comic incidents seen here are from Kerr’s memoir.

From 1965 to 1967, NBC aired a television adaptation of the book and movie, which starred Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller.

The family dog featured in the small screen version also later appeared in the early seasons of The Doris Day Show, a TV sitcom that originally aired on CBS from 1968 to 1973.