# That Touch of Mink
*That Touch of Mink* is a 1962 American romantic comedy directed by Delbert Mann, starring [Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant) as wealthy bachelor Philip Shayne and [Doris Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/doris-day) as working woman Cathy Timberlake, whose chance encounter over a mud puddle sets up a courtship divided by what each wants from romance: he proposes an affair, she holds out for marriage.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink) It was the first and only onscreen teaming of Grant and Day.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink/reviews?type=top_critics)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | June 14, 1962 (New York); 99 minutes; Eastman Color, widescreen[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) |
| Director and writers | Delbert Mann; screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Nate Monaster[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) |
| Stars | Cary Grant (Philip Shayne), Doris Day (Cathy Timberlake), Gig Young (Roger), Audrey Meadows (Connie)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) |
| Production | Granley Co., Arwin Productions, Nob Hill Productions; distributed by Universal Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink) |
| Box office | Record $123,000 in its first four days at Radio City Music Hall; fourth highest rental of 1962 at about $8.5 million; domestic gross $17,648,927[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/That-Touch-of-Mink) |
| Awards | Three Academy Award nominations; Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Comedy; WGA Award for Best Written American Comedy[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056575/awards/) |
| Salaries | Day $750,000; Grant $600,000 plus a percentage of the profits[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157884/behind-the-camera) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Cathy Timberlake, an unemployed computer operator on her way to a job interview, is splattered with mud by a limousine belonging to tycoon Philip Shayne. Philip sends his financial adviser, Roger, to apologize and offer money for the ruined dress, and Roger, on meeting Cathy, decides she would suit his boss.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/that-touch-of-mink) Goaded by Roger and by her roommate Connie, Cathy goes to confront Philip in person, but her indignation dissolves and she joins him on business trips to Baltimore and Philadelphia, then to his speech at the United Nations and a Yankees game.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
The conflict turns on the Bermuda trip Philip proposes. Cathy first refuses, then reconsiders and flies to the island with a lavish wardrobe and mink coat supplied by Philip; her nerves give her a skin rash, and Philip spends the night playing gin rummy. A second attempt ends with Cathy getting drunk and falling off a balcony, and a jealous Philip breaks with her. Roger then arranges for Cathy to visit a motel with the lecherous unemployment clerk Beasley; after a chase, Philip rescues her and impulsively proposes marriage. On their honeymoon arrival in Bermuda, Philip suddenly realizes he is a married man.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
## Production
The 9 May 1961 *Daily Variety* announced the Universal-International picture, provisionally titled *Touch of Mink*, as the first onscreen teaming of Doris Day and Cary Grant. [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began July 10, 1961, with location work in New York and Bermuda and exterior filming on the "New York City" set at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) Production details recorded by the AFI include Grant telephoning Citroën to order a car for the film, and the automat food dispensers being altered to accept counterfeit coins for the lunch-counter sequence.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
**Casting.** Grant was responsible for having [Audrey Meadows](https://www.edgepedia.org/audrey-meadows) signed: the script called for "an Audrey Meadows type," and Grant, a fan of *The Honeymooners*, pushed for her in the role of Connie.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157883/the-big-idea) Gig Young filled what the TCM essayist Rob Nixon calls the [Tony Randall](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-randall) role in the Doris Day formula, the neurotic sidekick to the male lead, though Shapiro and Monaster gave the part a more antagonistic twist, making Roger an academic who resents being lured into the corporate world.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157883/the-big-idea) The film also marked the screen debut of nightclub entertainer June Ericson and featured baseball stars [Yogi Berra](https://www.edgepedia.org/yogi-berra), Roger Maris, and Mickey Mantle as themselves.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
**Billing and pay.** Day was at the time the biggest box office star in the business, but she conceded top billing to Grant out of respect for his long career; her status still earned her the higher salary, $750,000 against Grant's $600,000, while Grant received a percentage that did well given the film's success.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157884/behind-the-camera) Day later wrote in her 1976 autobiography that Grant was friendly but distant, "very professional, maybe the most professional, exacting actor I ever worked with," and that he even helped choose the kind of mink she wore in the film.[10](https://www.dorisday.net/that-touch-of-mink/)
## Reception and box office
The film opened June 14, 1962 in New York City, June 15 in Chicago, and July 20 in Los Angeles, with generally positive reviews.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) It earned a record-breaking $123,000 in its first four days at [Radio City Music Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/radio-city-music-hall); the fan-site history of Day's career and a syndicated film-notes source both report it as the first film to gross more than $1 million at that theater, reaching the milestone in five weeks and staying another five weeks for a theater-record gross of about $1.9 million.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [10](https://www.dorisday.net/that-touch-of-mink/) • [11](https://www.netflixmovies.com/that-touch-of-mink-1962) *Variety* ranked it the fourth highest rental of 1962 at approximately $8.5 million, and The Numbers lists a domestic gross of $17,648,927.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/That-Touch-of-Mink) Readers of *Motion Picture Herald* voted Day the top audience-attracting film star in the U.S. and Canada in January 1963.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
Not every notice was warm. The [Catholic Church](https://www.edgepedia.org/catholic-church)'s Legion of Decency gave the film a "B" rating for "glamorizing illicit sex and treating perversion as humor," and one 1962 reviewer objected to [Gig Young](https://www.edgepedia.org/gig-young)'s portrayal of an unethical psychiatrist as disparaging "a critical area of medicine."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) Later critics have been mixed: Emanuel Levy called it "an overly familiar comedy that combines elements of their screen images," and Dennis Schwartz a "cutesy boy meets girl romantic comedy flatly directed by Delbert Mann," while audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes sit at 70 percent alongside a 78 percent Tomatometer.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink/reviews?type=top_critics) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink)
## Awards
The picture received three Academy Award nominations for 1962: Writing, Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Shapiro and Monaster); Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Alexander Golitzen, Robert Clatworthy, George Milo); and Sound (Waldon O. Watson).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056575/awards/) It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Comedy, and Golden Laurel awards for Day, Grant, and Young plus Top Comedy, and Shapiro and Monaster won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056575/awards/)
## Place in the Doris Day formula
*That Touch of Mink* belongs to the run of glossy sex comedies that defined Day's late-1950s and early-1960s career, following *Pillow Talk* (1959) and *[Lover Come Back](https://www.edgepedia.org/lover-come-back)* (1961) with [Rock Hudson](https://www.edgepedia.org/rock-hudson); Shapiro wrote *Pillow Talk*, and Mann directed *Lover Come Back*.[12](https://misacor.org.au/item/20854-that-touch-of-mink) • [13](https://www.carygrant.com/films/that-touch-of-mink) When the film was released, one reviewer noted that the only difference from the earlier Day comedies was that Rock Hudson had played the Cary Grant part, while here "the Cary Grant part is played by Cary Grant. When it comes to playing Cary Grant, nobody can beat Cary Grant."[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157883/the-big-idea) Day's husband and producer [Martin Melcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-melcher) reportedly pursued Grant precisely because the Hudson characters were always described as "Cary Grant" types.[14](https://erenow.org/biographies/cary-grant-a-biography/31.php)
The formula placed a working woman alone in the big city, attracted to a man despite her standards, with Day, then 38, playing a character guarding her virginity opposite Grant, then 58.[15](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18544/that-touch-of-mink) • [16](https://www.franksmovielog.com/reviews/that-touch-of-mink-1962/) Some of its sexual politics have dated: modern commentary notes the pressure Philip places on Cathy to accept his terms as very much of its time, and some contemporary viewers find the premise jarring.[17](https://soapytea.com/classic-hollywood/that-touch-of-mink-cary-grant-doris-day-only-film/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink) Academic accounts place it among the comedies of seduction that regularly pitted a working woman against a wealthy pursuer, and one dissertation notes that its ending, in which Cathy wins the millionaire without apparently offering herself in return, drew sarcastic criticism from reviewers at the time.[18](https://soar.suny.edu/bitstreams/cd2cd3b7-3b6c-4267-9a88-dcfc63253ecb/download) • [19](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1189/1/WRAP_THESIS_Jeffers_2005.pdf)
The film remains available to stream and buy: as of late 2026 it streams on the BritBox Apple TV channel and free with ads on Kanopy and Hoopla, and can be rented or bought on Amazon Video, the Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home.[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/that-touch-of-mink)
## References
1. [That Touch of Mink (1962), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18745-THAT-TOUCH-OF-MINK)
2. [That Touch of Mink, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink)
3. [That Touch of Mink, Top Critics Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that-touch-of-mink/reviews?type=top_critics)
4. [That Touch of Mink (1962), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/That-Touch-of-Mink)
5. [That Touch of Mink (1962), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/That-Touch-of-Mink)
6. [That Touch of Mink (1962), Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056575/awards/)
7. [Behind the Camera, by Rob Nixon, TCM](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157884/behind-the-camera)
8. [That Touch of Mink streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/that-touch-of-mink)
9. [The Big Idea, by Rob Nixon, TCM](https://www.tcm.com/articles/157883/the-big-idea)
10. [That Touch of Mink, The Films of Doris Day](https://www.dorisday.net/that-touch-of-mink/)
11. [That Touch of Mink (1962) on Netflix, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/that-touch-of-mink-1962)
12. [That Touch of Mink, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia](https://misacor.org.au/item/20854-that-touch-of-mink)
13. [That Touch of Mink (1962), CaryGrant.com](https://www.carygrant.com/films/that-touch-of-mink)
14. [Cary Grant: A Biography, excerpt, erenow.org](https://erenow.org/biographies/cary-grant-a-biography/31.php)
15. [That Touch of Mink, by Deborah L. Johnson, TCM](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18544/that-touch-of-mink)
16. [That Touch of Mink movie review (1962), Frank's Movie Log](https://www.franksmovielog.com/reviews/that-touch-of-mink-1962/)
17. [That Touch of Mink (1962): Cary Grant & Doris Day's Only Film, Soapy Tea](https://soapytea.com/classic-hollywood/that-touch-of-mink-cary-grant-doris-day-only-film/)
18. [Hollywood Romantic Comedy scholarship, SUNY Open Access Repository](https://soar.suny.edu/bitstreams/cd2cd3b7-3b6c-4267-9a88-dcfc63253ecb/download)
19. [WRAP thesis, Warwick](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1189/1/WRAP_THESIS_Jeffers_2005.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1960s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license