Kathryn Crosby, an actress and singer known for films such as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” and for her marriage to Bing Crosby, died Friday of natural causes. She was 90.
A native Texan, she was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in 1933. She attended the University of Austin, during which time she occasionally landed background roles in films like “Forever Female” and “Rear Window.”
Upon graduation in 1955, she relocated to Los Angeles and began acting full time, landing her first credited role in that year’s “Cell 2455 Death Row,” a drama starring William Campbell and Robert Wright Campbell. It was on this film that she first used her stage name, Kathryn Grant.
The actress appeared 16 other films during the decade, most notably “Sinbad” (1958), the groundbreaking fantasy film with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Grant co-starred as Princess Parisa opposite Kerwin Matthews as Sinbad. Though the film was a success, it was to be effectively her last role as a regularly working actress.
Shortly after embarking on her acting career, Grant met Bing Crosby, who had been widowed several years before. The pair married in 1957 at which time she took his last name and was henceforth known professionally as Kathryn Crosby.
Following “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” Crosby largely retired from acting, though she sometimes appeared on Bing’s 1960s television show, and in the 1970s hosted a talk show on local television in San Francisco. She also became a registered nurse in the 1960s.
Following Bing’s death in 1977, Crosby returned to acting, primarily on stage, including the Broadway revival of “State Fair” in 1996. She also hosted the Crosby National Golf Tournament charitable event, held in Bermuda Run, North Carolina, for years.
Crosby is survived by her three children with Bing, Harry, Mary and Nathaniel, and her grandchildren. Plans for a funeral or memorial have not been made public.
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