Kathryn Crosby

Early life and education

Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on November 25, 1933, in West Columbia, Texas, to Delbert Emery Grandstaff Sr. and Olive Catherine Grandstaff (née Stokely). Kathryn had four siblings. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955. Two years later, she married widower Bing Crosby, 30 years her senior. The couple had three children: Harry, Mary Frances, and Nathaniel.

Career

Kathryn's film career began in 1953. 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). However, Crosby largely retired from acting by the 1960s.

On June 16, 1963, Crosby became a registered nurse after studying at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.

Crosby appeared as a guest star on her husband's 1964–1965 sitcom The Bing Crosby Show.

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.

From 1985-2001, 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 Kathryn Crosby.

On November 4, 2010, Crosby was seriously injured in an automobile accident in the Sierra Nevada that killed her second husband, 85-year-old Maurice William Sullivan, whom she had married in 2000.

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

Death

Crosby died on September 20, 2024, at the age of 90. She is interred in the family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

Filmography

• So This Is Love (1953) – Showgirl (uncredited)
• Arrowhead (1953) – Miss Mason (uncredited)
• Forever Female (1953) – Young Hopeful (uncredited)
• Casanova's Big Night (1954) – Girl on Bridge (uncredited)
• Living It Up (1954) – Manicurist (uncredited)
• Rear Window (1954) – Girl at Songwriter's Party (uncredited)
• Unchained (1955) – Sally Haskins (uncredited)
• Tight Spot (1955) – Girl Honeymooner (uncredited)
• Cell 2455 Death Row (1955) – Jo-Anne
• 5 Against the House (1955) – Jean, Young Woman in Nightclub (uncredited)
• The Phenix City Story (1955) – Ellie Rhodes
• My Sister Eileen (1955) – Young Hopeful (uncredited)
• Storm Center (1956) – Hazel Levering
• Reprisal! (1956) – Taini
• The Wild Party (1956) – Honey
• Mister Cory (1957) – Jen Vollard
• The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957) – Anne Martin
• The Night the World Exploded (1957) – Laura Hutchinson
• Operation Mad Ball (1957) – Lt. Betty Bixby
• The Brothers Rico (1957) – Norah Malaks Rico
• Gunman's Walk (1958) – Clee Chouard
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) – Princess Parisa
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959) – Mary Pilant
• The Big Circus (1959) – Jeannie Whirling
• 1001 Arabian Nights (1959) – Princess Yasminda (voice)
• The Bing Crosby Show (1965) – Stephanie
• Great Performances (1971) – Lise
• The Initiation of Sarah (1978) – Mrs. Goodwin
• This Is the Life (1979) – Joyce Williams
• Queen of the Lot (2010) – Elizabeth Lambert

References

References

1. "Kathryn Grant".
2. "Kathryn Grant". Fandango Media.
3. Claesson, Samuel. (July 2025). "Kathryn Grant".
4. (March 29, 2021). "Bing Crosby's Former California Estate Is for Sale for $13.8 Million".
5. Harris, Beth. (September 21, 2024). "Kathryn Crosby, actor and widow of famed singer and Oscar-winning actor Bing Crosby, dies at 90". Associated Press.
6. "1963 Press Photo Kathryn Crosby wife Bing Crosby nurse cap Queen Angels School".
7. (October 15, 1977). "From the Archives: Bing Crosby Dies at 73 on Golf Course". Los Angeles Times.
8. Jim Sparks, "Crews to Start Work on Bridge," ''Winston-Salem Journal'', November 21, 2007.
9. Martin Griffith. (December 2, 2010). "Bing Crosby's widow recovering from accident".
10. (May 21, 2014). "Saratoga: Kathryn Crosby to sing in Rodgers and Hart tribute". The Mercury News.
11. Buenahora, Andrés. (September 21, 2024). "Kathryn Crosby, Actor and Widow of Bing Crosby, Dies at 90".