Kathryn Crosby, actress and widow of singer/actor Bing Crosby, dies at 90 – East Bay Times

By BETH HARRIS

LOS ANGELES — Kathryn Crosby, who starred in films such as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” “Anatomy of a Murder” and “Mad Ball” before marrying Oscar-winning singer and actor Bing Crosby, has died at the age of 90.

She died of natural causes Friday night at her home in the northern California town of Hillsborough, a family spokesman said Saturday.

Under her stage name Kathryn Grant, she appeared opposite Tony Curtis in “Mister Cory” in 1957 and Victor Mature in “The Big Circus” in 1959. She made five films with film noir director Phil Karlson, including “Tight Spot” and “The Phenix City Story,” both in 1955.

Other major credits include Jack Lemmon in “Operation Mad Ball,” James Darren in “The Brothers Rico” and James Stewart in “Anatomy of a Murder,” directed by Otto Preminger.

Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on November 25, 1933, in West Columbia, Texas, she graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in fine arts. She arrived in Hollywood and began her film career in 1953.

She met Bing Crosby while giving interviews for a Hollywood column in her hometown newspaper. They married in 1957, when she was 23 and he was 54.

She ended her acting career after the marriage, although she often appeared with Crosby and their three children in his Christmas television specials and in Minute Maid orange juice commercials. She became a registered nurse in 1963.

In the 1970s, she hosted a morning show on KPIX-TV in Northern California.