Kathryn Crosby
Crosby with her husband Bing Crosby on his 1976 Christmas special
Born
Olive Kathryn Grandstaff

(1933-11-25) November 25, 1933
Other namesKathryn Grandstaff
Kathryn Grant
EducationUniversity of Texas at Austin (BFA)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1953–2010
Spouses
(m. 1957; died 1977)
    Maurice William Sullivan
    (m. 2000; died 2010)
    Children

    Kathryn Crosby (born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff; November 25, 1933)[1] is a retired American actress and singer who performed in films under the stage names Kathryn Grant and Kathryn Grandstaff.[2]

    Early life and education

    Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on November 25, 1933 in West Columbia, Texas to Delbert Emery Grandstaff, Sr. and Olive Catherine Grandstaff (née Stokely). Kathryn has four siblings. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955. Two years later, she became Bing Crosby's second wife, being more than 30 years his junior. The couple had three children, Harry, Mary Frances, and Nathaniel.[3]

    Career

    Crosby with her husband Bing Crosby, 1958
    Kathryn and Bing Crosby in 1960

    She appeared as a guest star on her husband's 1964–1965 sitcom The Bing Crosby Show.

    Crosby largely retired from acting after her marriage, but did have featured roles as Princess Parisa in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and in the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (1959). She also played the part of Mama Bear with her husband and children in Goldilocks, and she co-starred with Jack Lemmon in the comedy Operation Mad Ball (1957), with Tony Curtis in the drama Mister Cory (1957), and as a trapeze artist in The Big Circus (1959). In the mid-1970s, she hosted The Kathryn Crosby Show, a 30-minute local talk-show on KPIX-TV in San Francisco. Husband Bing appeared as a guest occasionally. Since Bing Crosby's death in 1977, she has taken on a few smaller roles and the lead in the short-lived 1996 Broadway musical State Fair.

    On June 16, 1963, Crosby became a registered nurse after studying at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.[4][5]

    For 16 years ending in 2001, Crosby hosted the Crosby National Golf Tournament at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, North Carolina. A nearby bridge carrying U.S. Route 158 over the Yadkin River is named for Kathryn Crosby.[6]

    On November 4, 2010, Crosby was seriously injured in an automobile accident in the Sierra Nevada that killed her second husband, 85-year-old Maurice William Sullivan, whom she had married in 2000.[7]

    On June 1, 2014, Crosby sang in a Rodgers and Hart tribute.[8]

    Filmography

    Crosby with Vince Edwards as a guest star on Ben Casey, 1965

    References

    1. "Kathryn Grant". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
    2. "Kathryn Grant". Retrieved September 1, 2014.
    3. "Bing Crosby's Former California Estate Is for Sale for $13.8 Million". People. March 29, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
    4. "1963 Press Photo Kathryn Crosby wife Bing Crosby nurse cap Queen Angels School". Historic Images. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
    5. West, Richard; Thackrey, Ted Jr. (October 15, 1977). "From the Archives: Bing Crosby Dies at 73 on Golf Course". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
    6. Jim Sparks, "Crews to Start Work on Bridge," Winston-Salem Journal, November 21, 2007.
    7. Martin Griffith (December 2, 2010). "Bing Crosby's widow recovering from accident". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
    8. "Saratoga: Kathryn Crosby to sing in Rodgers and Hart tribute". The Mercury News. May 21, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
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