American actor and singer (1933–1995)
Gary Evan Crosby (June 27, 1933 – August 24, 1995) was an American actor and singer. His parents were
Bing Crosby , of whom he wrote a highly critical memoir, and the singer and actress
Dixie Lee .
Biography
Gary Crosby was born in
Los Angeles, California , and graduated from
Stanford University .
[1]
[2] He entered the entertainment business and performed in a harmony singing group,
The Crosby Boys , with his three brothers, Philip, Lindsay, and Dennis, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. As a teenager, he duetted with his father on two songs, "
Sam's Song " and "
Play a Simple Melody ", which became the first double-sided gold record in history.
[3] He also recorded duets with
Louis Armstrong and at least one 45-single with
Sammy Davis Jr. He also performed on several variety programs, including
ABC 's
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and
NBC 's
The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford .
[4]
Radio star
In the mid-1950s, he had his own radio program, the Gary Crosby Show on
CBS .
[5] The musical variety program debuted June 6, 1954, as a summer replacement for Bing Crosby's show.
[6]
Actor
As an actor, Crosby appeared in many television programs. On March 20, 1955, he appeared on
The Jack Benny Program Season 5, Episode 13. Later, he was briefly under contract to
20th Century-Fox in the late 1950s. He appeared in a number of supporting roles for the studio, normally comedies in which Crosby played a soldier:
Mardi Gras (1958) with
Pat Boone ;
Holiday for Lovers (1959), as
Carol Lynley 's love interest;
A Private's Affair (1959), with
Sal Mineo ;
The Right Approach (1961) with
Frankie Vaughan .
He is perhaps best-remembered for his recurring roles as Eddie the scheming
bellhop on
The Bill Dana Show and Officer Edward "Ed" Wells on NBC's
Adam-12 from 1968 to 1975, as well as appearances on several other shows produced by
Jack Webb 's
Mark VII Limited (including an episode of
Dragnet 1969 and five episodes of
Emergency! ).
[4] In addition to the aforementioned, he also appeared in three episodes of
The Rockford Files . Crosby appeared in,
In the Heat of the Night , in the episode "When The Music Stopped" in 1992. He played Mal Tabert, the manager of a singer played by
Robert Goulet , who shoots and kills a stalker.
In 1965, he made a guest appearance on
Perry Mason as singer Jazbo Williams in "The Case of the Frustrated Folk Singer".
[4] He appeared in
Girl Happy (1965), starring
Elvis Presley , with whom he had been stationed in the Army in Germany.
In 1964, Crosby appeared in the last filmed episode of
The Twilight Zone . Entitled "
Come Wander with Me ", the episode co-starred
Bonnie Beecher (in her very first role) and was directed by
Richard Donner .
Gary also made an appearance in his father's 1964 sitcom,
The Bing Crosby Show in the second episode as a lookalike. In the 1970s, he appeared occasionally on game shows such as
Match Game and
Tattletales as a guest panelist. He married and divorced three times; he had one stepchild as a result.
[4]
Memoir
In 1983, six years after his father's death, Crosby published an autobiography, Going My Own Way , which revealed the effects of his
alcoholism and his difficult childhood as a result of his mother's alcoholism and his father's alleged
emotional and
physical abuse .
Shortly before Gary's book was actually published, Lindsay said, "I'm glad [Gary] did it. I hope it clears up a lot of the old lies and rumors."
[7]
[8] Unlike Gary, Lindsay stated that he preferred to remember "all the good things I did with my dad and forget the times that were rough".
[7]
Bing's younger brother, singer and jazz bandleader
Bob Crosby , recalled at the time of Gary's revelations that Bing was a "disciplinarian", as their mother and father had been. He added, "We were brought up that way."
[7] In an interview for the same article, Gary clarified that Bing "was like a lot of fathers of that time. He was not out to be vicious, to beat children for his kicks."
[7]
The author of the most recent biography on Bing Crosby,
Gary Giddins , said that Gary Crosby's memoir is not reliable on many instances and cannot be trusted on the abuse stories.
[9]
[10]
Gary Crosby's adopted son, Steven, stated in a 2003 interview:
In the early years, I think, like any family you are going to butt heads with your mom, your dad and your brothers and sisters. I think there was some father-son stuff that everyone has. The book was I think an attempt of my dad to come to grips with some things in his life.
[11]
Death
Gary Crosby died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, in 1995, and is interred at
Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery .
[12]
Family relations
Discography
Singles
Albums
Filmography
Out of This World (1945)
Mardi Gras (1958)
Holiday for Lovers (1959)
A Private's Affair (1959)
The Right Approach (1961)
Battle at Bloody Beach (1961)
Two Tickets to Paris (1962)
Operation Bikini (1963)
The Twilight Zone , "
Come Wander with Me " (1964)
Girl Happy (1965)
Perry Mason , "The Case of The Frustrated Folk Singer" (1965)
Wings of Fire (1967)
The Flying Nun , Season 3 Episode 3 (1969)
Mayberry RFD , "The Moon Rocks" (1971)
Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972)
Sandcastles (1972)
Adam-12 , various episodes
Emergency! , various episodes
Partners in Crime (1973)
The Bionic Woman , "Bionic Beauty" (1976)
Wonder Woman , "Light-Fingered Lady" (1978)
Three on a Date (1978)
Project U.F.O. , "Sighting 4003: The Fremont Incident" (1978)
Project U.F.O. , "Sighting 4022: The Camouflage Incident" (1978)
Vega$ , (1980)
Hunter , various episodes
The Night Stalker (1987)
Chill Factor (1989)
Bibliography
References
^ Crosby, Gary; Firestone, Ross. Going My Own Way. Doubleday, 1983, pp. 211-212.
^
Gary Crosby, Bing's Son And Actor, 62
^
"Gary Crosby, Bing's Son And Actor, 62" .
The New York Times .
Reuters . August 26, 1995.
^
a
b
c
d
Gary Crosby at
IMDb
^
"Looie, Gary Crosby Hot" .
Pittsburgh Courier . September 24, 1955. p. 15. Retrieved April 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Son To Step In Dad's Shoes With Own 'Gary Crosby Show' " .
Kokomo Tribune . May 20, 1954. p. 13. Retrieved April 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^
a
b
c
d Haller, Scott (March 21, 1983).
"The Sad Ballad of Bing and His Boys" . People . Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
^ Gary Giddins (October 2018). Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star; the War Years, 1940-1946 . Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN
978-0-316-88792-2 .
^
Gary Giddins interviewed by Will Friedwald on Bing Crosby .
^ Gary Giddins (October 2018). Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star; the War Years, 1940-1946 . Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN
978-0-316-88792-2 .
^
"Steven Crosby interviewed for "Bing: Going My Way"(2003)" .
YouTube .
^
"Funeral Services Today for Actor Gary Crosby" . Los Angeles Times . August 29, 1995. Retrieved June 21, 2019 .
External links
Albums
Music of Hawaii (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
Cowboy Songs (Bing Crosby's first solo album) (1939)
Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
Ballad for Americans (Bing Crosby's first solo studio album)(1940)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
Christmas Music (1940)
Star Dust (1940)
Hawaii Calls (1941)
Small Fry (1941)
Crosbyana (1941)
Under Western Skies (1941)
Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/
Fred Astaire ) (1942)
Merry Christmas (1945)
Selections from Going My Way (1945)
Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
Don't Fence Me In (w/
The Andrews Sisters ) (1946)
The Happy Prince (1946)
Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
Bing Crosby – Stephen Foster (1946)
What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
Blue Skies (w/
Fred Astaire and
Irving Berlin ) (1946)
Bing Crosby – Jerome Kern (1946)
St. Patrick's Day (1947)
Bing Crosby – Victor Herbert (1947)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
Our Common Heritage (1947)
El Bingo (1947)
The Small One (1947)
The Man Without a Country (1947)
Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
Blue of the Night (1948)
Selections from Showboat (1948)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
St. Valentine's Day (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from Broadway Shows (1948)
Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
Auld Lang Syne (1948)
Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin (1949)
South Pacific (1949)
Christmas Greetings (1949)
Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1950)
Songs from Mr. Music (w/
Dorothy Kirsten and
The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Go West Young Man (w/
The Andrews Sisters ) (1950)
Collectors' Classics, Vols. 1–8 (1951)
Way Back Home (1951)
Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from... (1951)
Bing and the Dixieland Bands (1951)
Yours Is My Heart Alone (1951)
Country Style (1951)
Beloved Hymns (1951)
Bing and Connee (w/
Connee Boswell ) (1952)
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1952)
Themes and Songs from The Quiet Man (w/
Victor Young ) (1952)
Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (w/
Jane Wyman and
The Andrews Sisters ) (1952)
Road to Bali (w/
Bob Hope and
Peggy Lee ) (1952)
Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
Bing Sings the Hits (1954)
Selections from White Christmas (w/
Peggy Lee and
Danny Kaye ) (1954)
Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost (1955)
Merry Christmas (later version of 1945 78rpm album) (1955)
Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1956)
Home on the Range (1956)
Blue Hawaii (1956)
High Tor (w/
Julie Andrews and
Everett Sloane ) (1956)
A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World (1956)
Anything Goes (w/
Donald O'Connor ,
Mitzi Gaynor and
Zizi Jeanmaire ) (1956)
High Society (w/
Frank Sinatra ,
Grace Kelly , and
Louis Armstrong ) (1956)
Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
Bing with a Beat (1957)
A Christmas Story (1957)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
New Tricks (1957)
The Bible Story of Christmas (1957)
Never Be Afraid (1958)
Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1958)
Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/
Rosemary Clooney ) (1958)
Around the World with Bing! (1958)
Bing in Paris (1958)
That Christmas Feeling (1958)
In a Little Spanish Town (1958)
Bing’s Buddies and Beaus (1959)
Say One for Me (w/
Debbie Reynolds and
Robert Wagner ) (1959)
How the West Was Won (w/
Rosemary Clooney ) (1960)
Join Bing and Sing Along (1960)
Bing & Satchmo (w/
Louis Armstrong ) (1960)
Songs of Christmas (1960)
101 Gang Songs (1961)
El Señor Bing (1961)
My Golden Favorites (1961)
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
Bing's Hollywood (set of 15 albums) (1962)
On the Happy Side (1962)
I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
Holiday in Europe (1962)
Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
America, I Hear You Singing (w/
Frank Sinatra and
Fred Waring ) (1964)
Robin and the 7 Hoods (w/
Frank Sinatra ,
Dean Martin , and
Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1964)
12 Songs of Christmas (w/
Frank Sinatra and
Fred Waring ) (1964)
Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1965)
That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/
Rosemary Clooney ) (1965)
The Summit (w/
Dean Martin ,
Frank Sinatra and
Sammy Davis Jr. ) (1966)
Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1966)
Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boychoir Sing Family Christmas Favorites (w/
The Columbus Boychoir ) (1967)
Thoroughly Modern Bing (1968)
Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love (1968 version) (1968)
Hey Jude/Hey Bing! (1969)
Goldilocks (1970)
A Time to Be Jolly (1971)
Bing 'n' Basie (w/
Count Basie ) (1972)
Rhythm on the Range (1972)
I’ll Sing You a Song of the Islands (1972)
A Southern Memoir (1975)
That's What Life Is All About (1975)
A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/
Fred Astaire ) (1975)
Tom Sawyer (1976)
At My Time of Life (1976)
Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium (1976)
Feels Good, Feels Right (1976)
Beautiful Memories (1977)
Bingo Viejo (1977)
Seasons (Bing Crosby's last studio album released during his lifetime) (1977)
A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
On the Sentimental Side (posthumous edition, recorded in 1962; Bing Crosby's latest studio album) (2010)
Family Related
Television series Radio series Films Miscellaneous
International National Artists People