Kathryn Crosby, actress and widow of famed singer and Oscar-winning actor Bing Crosby, dies at 90

LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 age 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.

After Crosby died at age 74 in 1977 of a heart attack after playing golf in Spain, she appeared in stage productions of “Same Time, Next Year” and “Charley’s Aunt.” She co-starred with John Davidson and Andrea McArdle in the 1996 Broadway revival of “State Fair.”

For 16 years, until 2001, she organized the Crosby National golf tournament in Bermuda Run, North Carolina.

She is survived by her children Harry, Mary, an actress best known for the television series “Dallas,” and Nathaniel, a successful amateur golfer. She was married to Maurice Sullivan for 10 years before he was killed in a 2010 car crash that seriously injured Crosby.