Bing Crosby was best known as a singer/crooner/actor from the 1940-1980 era. His voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.[1]
Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary's opposite Ingrid Bergman the next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character.[2]
In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. Crosby is one of the 22 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (a star for motion pictures, radio, and audio recording).[3]
Harry "Bing" Lillis Crosby, Jr. was born May 3, 1903 in Tacoma, Washington.[4] He was the son of bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby, and his wife Catherine Helen "Kate" (née Harrigan). He was the fourth of seven children including brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob; and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose.[5][6]
The Crosby's moved to Spokane, Washington, when Bing was about three years old, which is where Bing was raised and later attended Gonzaga University for three years.[7]
Crosby's mother was a second generation Irish-American, and his father was of English descent. Some of his ancestors had emigrated to America in the 17th century, including Mayflower passenger William Brewster.[8]
On September 29, 1930, Crosby married singer/actress Wilma Winifred Wyatt popularly known as Dixie Lee in Hollywood, California.[9] Together they would have four sons, Gary, Dennis, Phillip, and Lindsay, before Wilma's death due to ovarian cancer on November 1, 1952.[10]
Crosby was a celebrity friend of golf who founded his own PGA Tour event (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am). He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978.[11]
Crosby passed away from a heart attack on October 14, 1977 at a golf course in Madrid, Spain after completing a tour of England. His last words were reportedly, "That was a great game of golf, fellers.".[12]
Featured Eurovision connections: Bing is 34 degrees from Agnetha Fältskog, 26 degrees from Anni-Frid Synni Reuß, 28 degrees from Corry Brokken, 22 degrees from Céline Dion, 27 degrees from Françoise Dorin, 27 degrees from France Gall, 29 degrees from Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, 26 degrees from Lill-Babs Svensson, 20 degrees from Olivia Newton-John, 33 degrees from Henriette Nanette Paërl, 32 degrees from Annie Schmidt and 18 degrees from Moira Kennedy on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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