BLUE HILL — Doris Day may be America’s girl next door, but she’s Britain’s sweetheart.

Blue Hill resident and Englishman Sydney Wood knows that too well, having headed the famed Hollywood actress’s London fan club before serving as her caretaker for years.

“She’s loved in England,” said Wood of his former boss and friend, who starred in numerous Hollywood hits including “Calamity Jane,” “Pillow Talk” and “April in Paris.” “The Doris Day Show” ran on TV from 1968 to 1973. “But over here, I say I worked for Doris Day and nobody really knows too much about her.”

At age 88, the actress, singer, philanthropist and animal rights activist recently released a new CD, “My Heart,” on Sony Records. The album was first released last fall in Great Britain and made the “Top 10” chart. Day is said to be the oldest singer, at 88, to make that hit parade.

Wood’s fascination with Day began as a child. He recalled his mother taking him to see Day’s movies once they moved to London from their hometown of Kersey-Suffolk.

“She was always laughing or smiling or dancing — everything my sister didn’t do,” Wood said, laughing. “Once I discovered she could make albums, that’s where all my pocket money went.”

Day was the burst of sunshine London needed after World War II.

“She was always happy, always singing,” Wood said. “It was all happiness and joy, which we never had.”

“It was the ’50s,” he continued. “Work was available. Food wasn’t rationed anymore. Life did get better.”

Wood first met Day when she visited London in 1976. When she arrived, the headline on the London Evening newspaper proclaimed “Doris Has Her Day in London.”

“A friend made me go up to the Dorchester to see if we could see her,” Wood said. The actress agreed to meet them.

The meeting went well and she asked Wood to arrange a get-together for select fan club members.

“She was there about five days and wanted to have a gathering,” Wood said. “We picked 14 people who were loyal to the fan club.”

“She’s a fun lady,” Wood said. “She loves to joke. She loves to give the dogs funny names.”

The following year, Day invited Wood to visit her in Beverly Hills.

Wood said he’d never been to America and didn’t understand the currency, so he pretty much just hung out at Day’s house the entire trip.

“I stayed in the yard,” he said. “I fixed the swing that was broken.” He also played with all of her dogs.

Day invited him to stay and work for her. Wood said he couldn’t leave London while his father was still living.

But, by 1983 his father had passed, so Wood wrote to her.

“She said pack your bags and come on over.”

Wood handled a number of caretaking duties for Day on her properties in Beverly Hills and Carmel, Calif., and cared for her numerous animals.

Day was not a micromanager.

“I would go to Kmart or Home Depot and buy flowers,” Wood said. “She would say get what you want. I loved doing that.”

However, living with a famous person was an adjustment.

“I hid in the trees whenever I heard the tour bus,” Wood said. “Half the time they’d sit out there singing ‘Que Sera Sera’ [Whatever will be, will be.] It was embarrassing.”

Wood worked for Day for 14 years.

Wood left Day’s employ in 1996 and moved to Florida. He said they were both getting on each other‘s nerves.

But, in 1998, Day’s son, Terry Melcher, invited Wood to come visit the star for a weekend.

“She said I’d like you to come back,” Wood recalled.

He went back in 1999 and stayed six years before resigning again.

Terry, who is now deceased, was often the negotiator.

“He was great,” Wood said. “He was a buffer between us, the workers and Doris.”

If someone wanted a raise, Terry would talk to Day first.

Day’s irritated response to Wood once was, ‘When I first started at Warner Bros. I got $300 a week.’

“And I’d say, ‘but gasoline was 10 cents a gasoline back then,’” Wood recalled.

Wood describes his former boss as a “very professional woman.”

She was called “one-take Doris” because she’d do all her scenes in one take, Wood said.

Wood said Day never understood why it took some musicians three or four years to cut an album when she would make one in three weeks between movies.

And boy did she make movies.

Day starred in 39 films in all, including “The Pajama Game” (1957), “That Touch of Mink” (1962) with Cary Grant and the 1968 hit “With Six You Get Eggroll.” She made several albums between 1956 and 1968.

For five years running she was the biggest moneymaking star in the United States. Day’s movies are said to have saved Warner Bros. when television came out.

“She had that pulling power,” Wood said.

In 2004, President George W. Bush presented Day with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition for her work helping animals.

“When she realized what was going on with animals, it took all of her time and her money,” Wood said.

Day has two organizations, the Doris Day Animal Foundation and Doris Day Animal League, a lobbying group.

Wood said her passion for dogs began when she was young.

Day had a beloved dog, Tiny, as a teenager who got away from her on a walk and was struck and killed by a car.

Wood recalled watching the actress sit on a tall chair and pick a freshly cooked chicken apart for her dogs.

“She’d go through it like a sieve,” he said, removing all the bones and fat and skin.

“I think she got to the point where she trusted dogs more than people,” he said.

Today, Wood is still caretaking but working for himself. He operates AmeriBrit Cleaning and Gardening of Blue Hill with his partner, Scott.

Doris Who?

Who: Doris Day was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1924.

First Hit Record: “Sentimental Journey,” recorded in 1945 with Les Brown & His Band of Renown.

Famous Co-stars: Eddie Foy, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Cary Grant, David Niven, Clark Gable.

Ranked: Biggest box-office star for four years (1960; 1962–1964).

Lives in: Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.

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