Kathryn Crosby obit

Kathryn Crosby, ‘7th Voyage of Sinbad’ Actress and Wife of Bing Crosby, Dies at 90

She also appeared in 'The Phenix City Story,' 'Operation Mad Ball,' 'The Big Circus' and 'Anatomy of a Murder.' 

 She was not on the list.

Kathryn Crosby, who starred in such films as Operation Mad Ball, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Anatomy of a Murder before she curtailed her acting career as the wife of Hollywood legend Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90.

Crosby died Friday night surrounded by her family at her home in Hillsborough, California, a family spokesperson said.

Billed under her stage name, Kathryn Grant, the Houston native made five features for famed film noir director Phil Karlson, including Tight Spot (1955), The Phenix City Story (1955) and The Brothers Rico (1957).

She also played the younger sister of Martha Hyer’s character in another film noir, the Blake Edwards-directed Mister Cory (1957), starring Tony Curtis, and portrayed a budding trapeze artist in The Big Circus (1959), starring Victor Mature.

Soon after wrapping production in Spain with her turn as the damsel in distress Princess Parisa in the Ray Harryhausen fantasy The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), she became Bing’s second wife when they wed in a Las Vegas church on Oct. 24, 1957. She was 23, he was 54.

“I’m glad I married an older man,” she said in Richard Grudens’ 2003 book, Bing Crosby: Crooner of the Century. “When I married Bing, he was already formed, his character was set. In other words, I knew what I was getting. With a younger man, you can’t tell how he will develop with the years.”

Kathryn pretty much put acting on the back burner as she had three children with the famed singer and Oscar-winning actor: Harry (born in 1958), Mary (born in 1959) and Nathaniel (born in 1961). All survive her.

Still, she appeared often with her husband and the kids on Christmas specials, on the ABC variety show The Hollywood Palace and in Minute Maid orange juice commercials, the picture of the all-American family. (Bing was a longtime Minute Maid pitchman and stockholder.)

After his death at age 74 on Oct. 14, 1977, from a heart attack after a round of golf in Spain, Kathryn appeared onstage in such productions as Same Time, Next Year and Charley’s Aunt and worked alongside John Davidson and Andrea McArdle in the 1996 Broadway revival of State Fair.

She was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in Houston on Nov. 25, 1933, and raised in West Columbia, Texas.

Soon after finishing runner-up in a Miss Texas beauty pageant, Kathryn left the University of Texas in 1952 to come to Hollywood with the help of Roy Rogers’ agent, Art Rush. Paramount quickly signed her to a contract after she screen-tested with William Holden.

She was writing a weekly column called Texas Girl for newspapers back home and working in a temporary job in the Paramount wardrobe department when she first met Bing in 1953 as he was finishing up work on Little Boy Lost.

They bumped into each other again a few months later as she was escorting visitors to the set of White Christmas, and she interviewed him for her column.

(Bing had been married to actress-dancer Dixie Lee from 1930 until her death from ovarian cancer at age 42 in 1952. He and Dixie had four sons: Gary, Dennis, Phillip and Lindsay.)

Bing and Kathryn had set several wedding dates over a three-year period before they would actually exchange vows, but he kept postponing as he was romantically involved with two of his co-stars, Grace Kelly and Inger Stevens.

Kathryn had begun her acting career with uncredited roles in such films as So This Is Love (1953), Casanova’s Big Night (1954) and Rear Window (1954) before Paramount released her from her contract in 1954.

Undaunted, she appeared in seven movies released in 1955 and on an episode of NBC’s Father Knows Best while going back to Texas that year to complete her fine arts degree. (In 1963, she graduated from nursing school.)

She played a nurse and Jack Lemmon’s love interest in Richard Quine’s Operation Mad Ball (1957), the wife of James Darren‘s mobster in The Brothers Rico and the daughter of the slain innkeeper in Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959), starring James Stewart.

In one of her rare onscreen acting gigs while she was married to Bing, she guest-starred on a 1966 episode of ABC’s — and Bing Crosby Productions’ — Ben Casey. In the ’70s, she stayed close to their home outside San Francisco by hosting a morning talk show on KPIX-TV and moonlighting with the American Conservatory Theater.

Bing “was a pretty cute kid when it came to convincing a girl that what she really wanted was to stay home and to scrub floors,” Kathryn said in an interview soon after his death. “He didn’t know that he was a male chauvinist pig, but he was!” she added with a laugh.

She wrote three sets of memoirs about her life with him: 1967’s Bing and Other Things, 1983’s My Life With Bing and 2002’s My Last Years With Bing.

In 2000, she married longtime companion Maurice William Sullivan, an educator whom she and Bing had hired to tutor their kids. He later became trustee of the Crosby estate.

In November 2010, Sullivan, 85, was killed and Kathryn was seriously injured in a car accident in the Sierra Nevada. He was at the wheel when their vehicle went off the road, rolled over and struck a boulder.

As for her kids, Harry became an investment banker; Mary is an actress known for her turn as J.R. Ewing shooter Kristin Shepard on Dallas; and Nathaniel was an excellent amateur golfer. She also is survived by several grandchildren.

Actress

Queen of the Lot (2010)

Queen of the Lot

4.6

Elizabeth Lambert (as Kathryn Crosby)

2010

 

This Is the Life (1952)

This Is the Life

6.9

TV Series

Joyce Williams (as Kahryn Crosby)

1979

1 episode

 

The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

The Initiation of Sarah

5.7

TV Movie

Mrs. Goodwin (as Kathryn Crosby)

1978

 

Great Performances (1971)

Great Performances

7.9

TV Series

Lise (as Kathryn Crosby)

1971

1 episode

 

Ben Casey (1961)

Ben Casey

7.1

TV Series

Pat (as Kathryn Crosby)

1966

1 episode

 

The Bing Crosby Show (1964)

The Bing Crosby Show

6.3

TV Series

Stephanie (as Kathryn Crosby)

1965

1 episode

 

Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963)

Kraft Suspense Theatre

7.7

TV Series

Ann 'Annie' Smith (as Kathryn Crosby)

1964

1 episode

 

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963)

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

7.6

TV Series

Ginny Warren (as Kathryn Crosby)

1963

1 episode

 

Kathryn Grant and Dwayne Hickman in 1001 Arabian Nights (1959)

1001 Arabian Nights

6.1

Princess Yasminda (voice)

1959

 

Red Buttons, Victor Mature, Kathryn Grant, David Nelson, and Gilbert Roland in The Big Circus (1959)

The Big Circus

6.2

Jeannie Whirling

1959

 

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Anatomy of a Murder

8.0

Mary Pilant

1959

 

Richard Eyer, Dal McKennon, Kathryn Grant, Enzo Musumeci Greco, and Kerwin Mathews in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

7.0

Princess Parisa

1958

 

Gunman's Walk (1958)

Gunman's Walk

7.0

Clee Chouard

1958

 

George Sanders, John Archer, and Mae Clarke in The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957)

The George Sanders Mystery Theater

9.0

TV Series

1957

1 episode

 

Richard Conte, James Darren, Dianne Foster, Larry Gates, Kathryn Grant, and Paul Picerni in The Brothers Rico (1957)

The Brothers Rico

6.8

Norah Rico

1957

 

Operation Mad Ball (1957)

Operation Mad Ball

6.5

Lt. Betty Bixby

1957

 

The Night the World Exploded (1957)

The Night the World Exploded

5.3

Laura Hutchinson

1957

 

Audie Murphy, Jeff Donnell, Hope Emerson, Kathryn Grant, and Jeanette Nolan in The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957)

The Guns of Fort Petticoat

6.3

Anne Martin

1957

 

Tony Curtis and Martha Hyer in Mister Cory (1957)

Mister Cory

6.6

Jen Vollard

1957

 

The Ford Television Theatre (1952)

The Ford Television Theatre

7.5

TV Series

Pippa Crest

Jean Morgan

Emmadel Reed ...

1955–1957

5 episodes

 

The Wild Party (1956)

The Wild Party

5.7

Honey

1956

 

Felicia Farr and Guy Madison in Reprisal! (1956)

Reprisal!

6.6

Taini

1956

 

Storm Center (1956)

Storm Center

6.6

Hazel Levering

1956

 

Celebrity Playhouse (1955)

Celebrity Playhouse

7.7

TV Series

1956

1 episode

 

Father Knows Best (1954)

Father Knows Best

7.4

TV Series

Maxine

1955

1 episode

 

My Sister Eileen (1955)

My Sister Eileen

6.8

Young Hopeful (uncredited)

1955

 

John Bromfield and Maxie Rosenbloom in Damon Runyon Theater (1955)

Damon Runyon Theater

7.9

TV Series

Clarice

1955

1 episode

 

Meg Myles in The Phenix City Story (1955)

The Phenix City Story

7.2

Ellie Rhodes

1955

 

Brian Keith, Kim Novak, Guy Madison, Kerwin Mathews, and Alvy Moore in 5 Against the House (1955)

5 Against the House

5.8

Jean (uncredited)

1955

 

Cell 2455, Death Row (1955)

Cell 2455, Death Row

6.4

Jo-Anne

1955

 

Tight Spot (1955)

Tight Spot

6.6

Girl Honeymooner (uncredited)

1955

 

Unchained (1955)

Unchained

6.1

Sally Haskins (uncredited)

1955

 

Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Georgine Darcy, Judith Evelyn, and Harry Landers in Rear Window (1954)

Rear Window

8.5

Girl at Songwriter's Party (uncredited)

1954

 

Janet Leigh, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Sheree North in Living It Up (1954)

Living It Up

6.5

Manicurist (uncredited)

1954

 

Joan Fontaine, Bob Hope, and Audrey Dalton in Casanova's Big Night (1954)

Casanova's Big Night

6.7

Girl in Gondola (uncredited)

1954

 

William Holden, Ginger Rogers, Paul Douglas, and Pat Crowley in Forever Female (1953)

Forever Female

6.6

Young Hopeful (uncredited)

1953

 

Charlton Heston and Jack Palance in Arrowhead (1953)

Arrowhead

5.8

Miss Mason (uncredited)

1953

 

So This Is Love (1953)

So This Is Love

6.0

Showgirl (uncredited)

1953

 

Additional Crew

Insight (1960)

Insight

7.5

TV Series

member: producers council (as Kathryn Crosby)

1969–1970

2 episodes

 

Soundtrack

Goldilocks (1970)

Goldilocks

6.9

TV Movie

performer: "The Human Race", "Take a Longer Look (Reprise)"

1970

 

Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase in The Hollywood Palace (1964)

The Hollywood Palace

8.1

TV Series

performer: "Christmas is a Birthday"

1968

1 episode