Kathryn Crosby Dies: Bing Crosby’s Widow & ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ Star Was 90

Kathryn Crosby, a singer and actor who was married to singer and actor Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90 years old.

A spokesperson for the family said Kathryn died of natural causes at home in Hillsborough, California, on the night of Friday, September 20, per the Associated Press.

Kathryn was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on November 25, 1933, in West Columbia, Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and she got her start in Hollywood after a beauty competition got her a screen test with William Holden, according to Variety.

She also wrote a showbiz column for her hometown newspaper, and she met Bing during a White Christmas set visit. Kathryn and Bing tied the knot in 1957 and remained married until his 1977 death. They had three children, including Dallas star Mary Crosby.

Kathryn, who sometimes performed under the names Kathryn Grant and Kathryn Grandstaff, made her screen debut as an uncredited showgirl in the 1953 film So This Is Love, a biopic of opera singer Grace Moore. After several other uncredited roles — including one in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window — Kathryn got her name in the credits in the 1955 crime film Cell 2455, Death Row.

Then came supporting roles in the 1956 noir film The Wild Party, starring Anthony Quinn, the 1957 war comedy Operation Mad Ball, starring Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs, the 1958 adventure film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, starring Kerwin Mathews, and 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder, another film starring Rear Window’s Jimmy Stewart.

Kathryn became a registered nurse in 1963 but stayed onscreen with a morning show on Northern California’s KPIX-TV in the 1970s. She also took stage roles later in life, including a part in the 1996 Broadway revival of State Fair. And she hosted an annual Crosby National golf tournament in North Carolina for 16 years, until 2001.

She later remarried, tying the knot with Maurice William Sullivan in 2000. He died in a 2010 car accident in which she was seriously injured.

Kathryn is survived by her children — also including Harry and Nathaniel Crosby — and several grandchildren.