LOS ANGELES — Barry Comden, a businessman and restaurateur who was the fourth husband of singer-actress Doris Day, died May 25 of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, said his son, Danny. He was 74.

In 1976, he married Day after meeting her at the Beverly Hills Old World Restaurant, where he was the maitre d’. He always made sure that her favorite wine was chilled and provided her with ample leftovers for her dogs to eat, Vanity Fair magazine reported last year.

Pampered pets would be a recurring theme of the five-year marriage between Day and Comden, 12 years her junior.

Comden came up with the idea for a line of pet food that would feature her name. Comden sought business partners, who formed Doris Day Distributing Co., but the enterprise quickly unraveled, mainly because of a pyramid-type scheme that the couple had been unaware of.

The couple bought a hilltop home in Carmel in late 1978 but soon separated. When they divorced in 1981, Comden complained that Day preferred the company of dogs.