Cathy Lee Crosby

Early life

Crosby was born in Los Angeles, the middle daughter of three. and her mother, Linda Hayes, was "an RKO contract actress in the 1940s". Her parents eventually separated, and her father relocated to Australia.

She excelled at tennis as a youth, starting the game at age 12. which she often played with her elder sister, Linda Lou, as her partner.

She graduated in 1968 from the University of Southern California with a degree in psychology, although she originally was pre-med.

Career

Crosby was a professional tennis player who played at Wimbledon twice, quitting the sport professionally sometime between 1967 and 1970.

As an actress, her first TV appearance was as Susan in the episode "The Lay of the Land" in the first season of It Takes a Thief (1968). Her first movie role was a lead as Ann Chris in Michael Shurtleff's film version of his play Call Me by My Rightful Name (1972), opposite Don Murray and Otis Young. The following year she played Kay Butler in the 20th Century Fox crime drama The Laughing Policeman (1973).

In 1970, she was reportedly sued by Cathy Crosby, daughter of singer and bandleader Bob Crosby and niece to Bing Crosby, over the use of the name "Cathy Crosby".

In 1974, she starred as the title character in the television film Wonder Woman, a year before Lynda Carter first portrayed the character that would lead to the Wonder Woman television series. In 1975, she guest starred as Helen of Troy in an episode of the scifi/horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Crosby starred in the movie Trackdown (1976), the TV movie Keefer (1978), and in Coach (1978), in which she played the coach of a high school basketball team who falls for one of her players. She played Libby Hall in S2 E16 of "The Love Boat" (1979).

She starred in the horror movie The Dark (1979), the 1982 TV miniseries World War III, and appeared in the TV movie Intimate Strangers (1986). She also played herself in cameo roles in The Last Horror Film (1982) and Robert Altman's 1992 film The Player.

Crosby was a co-host of the TV series That's Incredible! from 1980 to 1984 on ABC, which remains in world-wide syndication. In 1986, she was a guest commentator for the nationally televised special of World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s WrestleMania 2.

Crosby starred as Judith Main in the 1994 TV miniseries North and South: Book III. The same year she appeared in the Lifetime movie Untamed Love (1994), based on Torey Hayden's One Child, and later starred in the film Ablaze (2001).

Personal life

Crosby was married at age 21 to Alexander Wilfred Ingle on July 30, 1966; they divorced in 1968.

She was in a relationship with football star Joe Theismann throughout the early 1980s. Their romantic relationship ended in 1991, after which she sued him for $4.5 million because he "abandoned his promise to financially support her". Theismann responded with a countersuit, ultimately leading to both settling out of court.

She was briefly a follower of Scientology.

References

References

1. (September 26, 1980). "Cathy Crosby Talks About Drugs". The Evening Independent.
2. Lewis, Dan. (August 15, 1981). "Cathy Lee Crosby has an 'Incredible' job". The Telegraph.
3. (April 26, 2017). "1958 Dodge Coronet Hardtop Commercial - Featuring Lou Crosby". OsbornTramain.
4. (June 4, 2010). "COMMERCIAL FOR 1960 DODGE DART-As Aired On "The Lawrence Welk Show" (ABC-October 10. 1959)". Dachshund.
5. "- YouTube".
6. (July 25, 2013). "DODGE TRUCKS THE POWER GIANTS FOR '58!". Dave Hildebrand.
7. Gritten, David. (October 13, 1980). "Cathy Lee Crosby Seems the Perfect Host: She Has Taken Risks All Her Professional Life".
8. Lewis, Dan. (March 17, 1974). "She Played Wonder Woman". [[Lakeland Ledger]].
9. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-chronicle-big-city-beat/189464606/ "Big City Beat"], ''The Houston Chronicle'', May 26, 1970
10. (February 2, 1991). "Crosby, ex-friend file cross lawsuits". The Press-Courier.
11. (January 31, 1991). "NAMES IN THE GAMES : Ex-Girlfriend Sues Theismann". [[Los Angeles Times]].
12. (June 8, 1991). "Theismann, Crosby Settle Estates Lawsuit". [[The Free Lance Star]].