Kathryn Crosby

For the woman crowned Miss Alabama 2003, see Catherine Crosby.
Kathryn Crosby
Crosby in 1976
Born
Olive Kathryn Grandstaff

(1933-11-25)November 25, 1933
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedSeptember 20, 2024(2024-09-20) (aged 90)
Hillsborough, California, U.S.
Resting placeHoly Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Other names
  • Kathryn Grandstaff
  • Kathryn Grant
EducationUniversity of Texas at Austin (BFA)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active
  • 1953–1979
  • 2010
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1957; died 1977)​
Maurice William Sullivan
​
​
(m. 2000; died 2010)​
Children

Olive Kathryn Crosby (née Grandstaff; November 25, 1933 – September 20, 2024) was an American actress and singer who performed in films, primarily under the stage name Kathryn Grant.[1] She married Bing Crosby in 1957 and subsequently appeared on television with him and hosted a talk show, The Kathryn Crosby Show, on which he occasionally appeared, before returning to acting after his death.

Early life and education

Olive Kathryn Grandstaff was born on November 25, 1933, in Houston, Texas, to Delbert Emery Grandstaff Sr., a high school football coach, and Olive Catherine Grandstaff (née Stokely), an elementary school teacher.[2][3] She was raised in West Columbia with four siblings, won her first beauty pageant at the age of three, and was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout when queen of the Houston Rodeo. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955, finishing her degree at summer school after moving to Hollywood to begin her career.[2][4]

On June 16, 1963, Crosby became a registered nurse after studying at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.[5][6] She later earned a teaching qualification.[2]

Career

Her film career began in 1953.[7] She had featured roles such 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). When she met Bing Crosby on the Paramount lot, she was newly under contract. However, at his urging she largely retired from acting by the 1960s.[2]

Crosby appeared with her children on annual Crosby family Christmas specials and in commercials for Minute Maid orange juice.[2][7]

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. After Bing Crosby's death in 1977, she took on a few smaller roles and the lead in the short-lived 1996 Broadway musical State Fair.[7]

From 1985 to 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 was renamed for her in the 1990s.[8][9]

On June 1, 2014, Crosby sang in a Rodgers and Hart tribute.[10]

Personal life and death

She married widower Bing Crosby on October 24, 1957 in Las Vegas;[11] she was 23 and he was 54. The couple had three children: Harry, Mary Frances, and Nathaniel.[2][7][12] He died in 1977;[6][7] in 1983, she published a memoir, My Life With Bing, in which she recounted Bing Crosby's efforts to have her concentrate exclusively on family life and wrote that he "alternately implored and enjoined me to get organized, [which] was very much like ordering a government to reduce inflation".[2]

In 2000, she remarried to Maurice William Sullivan, who had tutored her children.[2] On November 4, 2010, Sullivan was killed and she was seriously injured in an automobile accident in the Sierra Nevada.[7][13]

She died on September 20, 2024, at her home in Hillsborough, California, at the age of 90.[7][14] She is interred in the Crosby family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "Kathryn Grant". Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Green, Penelope (September 22, 2024). "Kathryn Crosby, Actress and Bing Crosby's Widow, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 23, 2024.
  3. ^ "Kathryn Grant". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  4. ^ Claesson, Samuel (July 2025). "Kathryn Grant". Classic Images. pp. 28–29.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ a b 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.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harris, Beth (September 21, 2024). "Kathryn Crosby, actor and widow of famed singer and Oscar-winning actor Bing Crosby, dies at 90". Associated Press. Retrieved February 16, 2026.
  8. ^ Olson, Eric (February 4, 2009). "English Erects Much-Needed New Yadkin River Bridge". Construction Equipment Guide. Retrieved February 16, 2026.
  9. ^ Sparks, Jim (November 21, 2007). "Crews to Start Work on Bridge". Winston-Salem Journal.
  10. ^ "Saratoga: Kathryn Crosby to sing in Rodgers and Hart tribute". The Mercury News. May 21, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  11. ^ "Der Bingle Marries Kathy Grant, 23". St. Petersburg Times. United Press International. October 25, 1957. p. 9A.
  12. ^ "Bing Crosby's Former California Estate Is for Sale for $13.8 Million". People. March 29, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  13. ^ Griffith, Martin (December 2, 2010). "Bing Crosby's widow recovering from accident". The Washington Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2026.
  14. ^ Buenahora, Andrés (September 21, 2024). "Kathryn Crosby, Actor and Widow of Bing Crosby, Dies at 90". Variety. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
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