Kathryn Grant
Born: 1933-11-25 in West Columbia, Texas, USA
Died: 2024-09-20
Known For: Acting
Biography
Kathryn Crosby (November 25, 1933 - September 20, 2024) was an American actress and singer who also performed under the stage-name Kathryn Grant. Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in Houston, Texas, 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. The couple had three children, Harry, Mary Frances, and Nathaniel. She appeared as a guest star on her husband's 1964–1965 ABC sitcom The Bing Crosby Show. She largely retired after their marriage, but did have a featured role in the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder. She also played the part of "Mama Bear" alongside her husband and children in Goldilocks and starred with Jack Lemmon in Operation Mad Ball in 1957. 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. 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 Crosby. On November 4, 2010, Crosby was seriously injured in an automobile accident in the Sierra Nevada that killed her 85-year-old husband, Maurice William Sullivan.
Filmography
2014
- Bing Crosby: Rediscovered as Self
2010
- Queen of the Lot as Elizabeth Lambert
- Bing Crosby: The Television Specials Volume 2 – The Christmas Specials as Self
2004
- The Tony Danza Show as Self
1998
- A Bing Crosby Christmas as Self / Narrator
1991
- The Magic of Bing Crosby as Self
- Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker as actress 'Anatomy of a Murder' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1978
- The Initiation of Sarah as Mrs. Goodwin
- Bing Crosby: The Christmas Years as Herself
1977
1970
- Goldilocks as Self / Mama Bear (voice)
1964
1961
- The Mike Douglas Show as Self - Co-Host
- Ben Casey
1959
- Anatomy of a Murder as Mary Pilant
- 1001 Arabian Nights as Princess Yasminda (voice)
- The Big Circus as Jeannie Whirling
- A Princess for Magoo
1958
- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as Princess Parisa
- Gunman's Walk as Cecily "Clee" Chouard
1957
- Mister Cory as Jen Vollard
- Operation Mad Ball as Lt. Betty Bixby
- The Night the World Exploded as Laura 'Hutch' Hutchinson
- The Guns of Fort Petticoat as Anne Martin
- The Brothers Rico as Norah Malaks Rico
1956
- Reprisal! as Taini
- The Wild Party as Honey
- Storm Center as Hazel Levering
1955
- Tight Spot as Girl Honeymooner (uncredited)
- The Phenix City Story as Ellie Rhodes
- Unchained as Sally Haskins
- Cell 2455 Death Row as Jo-Anne
- 5 Against the House as Jean, Young Woman in Nightclub (uncredited)
1954
- Rear Window as Girl at Songwriter's Party (uncredited)
- Father Knows Best as Maxine
- Living It Up as Manicurist (uncredited)
- Casanova's Big Night as Girl on Bridge (uncredited)
1953
- So This Is Love as Showgirl (uncredited)
1950
- What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest