Sandra Bullock and Doris Day both have an onscreen persona that enables them to tell someone where to get off without alienating or causing hurt feelings. Day had no problem conveying her opinion to phone hog Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk and Bullock managed the same with her over-zealous landlord in While You Were Sleeping.
Both actresses have no problem in looking silly when the part calls for it and both are always completely believable but never over the top. While neither are known for flat-out slapstick humor made famous by comedians such as Lucille Ball, Day proves she is no slouch when it comes to physical comedy when she gets locked out of her house in Send Me No Flowers. Her character Judy, accidentally locks herself out of the house while she is retrieving the milk delivery. Of course she is in her nightgown, her husband is in the shower, and a frisky teenager drops by to deliver the dry cleaning. Bullock manages the same level of endearing wackiness when her call of nature leads Hugh Grant to highjack a RV toilet in Two Weeks Notice.
Sandra Bullock and Doris Day are both Good Girls
Bullock and Day also share an ability to convey an almost tangible sincerity and decency in all of their film roles. The goodness stops short of gooey because when the going gets tough, the girl gets feisty. Day gives as good as she gets with advertising rival Rock Hudson (again) in Lover Come Back. She manages a contracting business and a house full of kids in With Six You Get Eggroll. She even outsmarts communist -chasing goverment agents in The Glass Bottom Boat.
Bullock opens up a can of whoop-butt in Speed and Speed 2. Her verbal arsenal is nearly as impressive and her fearlessness. Who could forget her hilarious back and forth banter with Michael Caine in Miss Congeniality?
Most Sincere Form of Flattery
Old-school cinephiles may not be willing to concede that Bullock has unsurped Day's position as America's Sweetheart. Perhaps it is a matter of generational sensibilities.
There is one onscreen title that Bullock will never take away from Day. While Sandra Bullock has maintained a gentle sexuality in her films either by virtue of implied sensuality or tasteful situations, Doris Day has enshrouded her onscreen personas with such purity (overt - not implied) that she will remain above reproach for eternity.
In a Biography Channel special devoted to the life of Doris Day, a former colleague quipped about the actress who was married four times in real life, "Doris Day - She's still a virgin"!
