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Kathryn Crosby, actress from “Anatomy of a Murder” and widow of Bing Crosby, dies at the age of 90

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Kathryn Crosby, an actress and singer who often performed alongside her late husband Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90 years old.

She was known for her roles in the 1958 adventure film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and the courtroom drama from 1959 Anatomy of a murder.

diversity reported that she died of natural causes on September 20 at her home in Hillsborough, California.

Crosby was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in West Columbia, Texas on November 25, 1933. She made her uncredited film debut as a showgirl in Kathryn Grayson's musical drama. So this is love in 1953 and made a handful of other minor appearances in films over the next few years, including the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic rear window.

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955, the same year she received her first credited role (under her stage name Kathryn Grant) in the film noir Cell 2455 Death Row.

Kathryn Crosby in Beverly Hills in 2014
Kathryn Crosby in Beverly Hills in 2014 (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Shortly after signing a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures, Crosby met her future husband while walking on the studio lot. In a 2014 interview with PBS, she recalled him calling out to her, “Hi Tex, what's your hurry?”, adding that she didn't know how he knew she was from Texas.

“He just found out. He was a very deceitful man. I think he knew everyone,” she said. “He invited me for a cup of tea and we drank tea and I looked into his big blue eyes and about 15 minutes later I realised I was in love.”

The couple married in 1957 after she converted to Catholicism. She was Bing Crosby's second wife and more than 30 years his junior.

After her marriage, she continued to be referred to as Kathryn Grant in her film roles. These included The 7th Voyage of Sinbad And Anatomy of a murder as well as appearances in the 1957 Jack Lemmon comedy Operation Mad Ball and the Tony Curtis drama Mr Cory in the same year.

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Crosby appeared several times as a guest star in her husband's sitcom The Bing Crosby Show, which ran from 1964 to 1965. In 1969, she voiced Mama Bear alongside Bing in an animated version of GoldilocksHe died in 1977.

She leaves behind three children: Harry Lillis III, who played Bill in Friday the 13thMary Frances, who played Kristin Shepard in the long-running soap opera Dallasand Nathaniel, who became a professional golfer.

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