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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...

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...

Kathryn Grant Crosby, the actress known for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Anatomy of a Murder, has died. She was 90.

The widow of Bing Crosby died of natural causes on Friday night at her Hillsborough, California home, according to a spokesperson for the Crosby family.

Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on Nov. 25, 1933 in West Columbia, Texas, she graduated from University of Texas at Austin before winning a beauty contest with the prize being a screen test in Hollywood with William Holden.

Beginning her onscreen career as Kathryn Grant in 1953, she appeared in such films as So This Is Love (1953), Rear Window (1954) and The Wild Party (1956).

While penning a column about Hollywood for her hometown newspaper, Kathryn met Bing during an interview on the set of his beloved 1954 holiday classic White Christmas. They wed in 1957, and she went on to become a registered nurse and teacher.

Bing Crosby performs with wife Kathryn Grant Crosby on Dec.

Kathryn Crosby, the actor, singer and widow of Bing Crosby, died Friday evening of natural causes at her home in Hillsborough, Calif. She was 90.

A representative for the Crosby family announced the news.

Crosby starred in more than 20 films over the course of her career, including “The Wild Party” (1956), “Operation Mad Ball” (1957), “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) and “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959). She typically performed under the stage names Kathryn Grant and Kathryn Grandstaff.

Crosby appeared frequently on her husband Bing’s “Merrie Olde Christmas” specials and hosted “The Kathryn Crosby Show,” a 30-minute talk show based in San Francisco. Following the death of the famed singer and actor at the age of 74 in 1977, she performed in several stage productions such as the 1996 Broadway revival of “State Fair.” She also hosted the charitable Crosby National Golf Tournament in Bermuda Run, N.C., for many years.

Kathryn Crosby was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on Nov.

Kathryn Crosby, who starred in such films as Operation Mad Ball, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Anatomy of a Murder before she curtailed her acting career as the wife of Hollywood legend Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90.

Crosby died peacefully at her home in Hillsborough, California, surrounded by her family, according to a family spokesperson.

Billed under her stage name, Kathryn Grant, the Houston native made five features for famed film noir director Phil Karlson, including Tight Spot (1955), The Phenix City Story (1955) and The Brothers Rico (1957).

She also played the younger sister of Martha Hyer’s character in another film noir, the Blake Edwards-directed Mister Cory (1957), starring Tony Curtis, and portrayed a budding trapeze artist in The Big Circus (1959), starring Victor Mature.

Soon after wrapping production in Spain with her turn as the damsel in distress Princess Parisa in the Ray Harryhausen fantasy The 7th Voyage of Sinbad...

What makes a great courtroom thriller? A mesmerizing and clever plot that draws viewers in immediately. Three-dimensional characters that keep you guessing if they are the guilty party and twists and turns that leave audiences gasping and gob smacked.

Justine Triet’s dazzling French thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” has all the qualities and then some that make it a classic of the genre. Since winning the Palme D’or last May, “Anatomy of a Fall” has continued its winning ways receiving several critics’ honors, as well as two Golden Globes, a Critics Choice honor and seven BAFTA nominations including best film, best director, screenplay and best actress for Sandra Huller’s powerhouse performance. One can’t forget that Messi, the border collie ,who plays the family pet Snoop, received the Palm Dog at Cannes.

Huller plays a bisexual woman with a troubled marriage and a young blind son. When...

The first movie to directly confront McCarthyism! Or so said the editorials touting this ‘Long-Awaited Screen Event’ in which ‘Bette Davis Hits the Screen in a Cyclone of Dramatic Fury!’ The storm of the title was based on a real activist in Oklahoma who lost her job for promoting equal rights. Bette’s polite librarian is victimized by small-minded civic types; a subplot depicts the traumatic reaction of one of her patrons, a child expected to despise her as a traitor to the country. Daniel Taradash’s movie is an excellent starting point to discuss the thorny dramatic subgenre of liberal social issue movies.

Storm Center

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 155

1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95

Starring:

Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...

Lively stars, good music and Bob Fosse-grade dancing favor Columbia’s forgotten-yet-rediscovered original musical remake, which turns the adventures of two sisters in Manhattan into an all-romantic gambol. Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon are young and fresh, but MGM alumnus Betty Garrett steals the show.

My Sister Eileen

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett, Bob Fosse, Kurt Kasznar, Dick York, Lucy Marlow, Tommy Rall, Richard Deacon, Kathryn Grant, Queenie Smith.

Cinematography: Charles Lawton Jr.

Film Editor: Charles Nelson

Choreographer: Robert Fosse

Songs: Jule Styne, Leo Robin

Original Music: George Duning

Written by Blake Edwards, Richard Quine from the play by Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, from stories by Ruth McKenney

Produced by Fred Kohlmar

Directed by Richard Quine

The making of a fun movie musical was rarely as easy as jumping up and shouting,...

“From the land beyond beyond…” — oops, wrong movie. Kerwin Mathews battles Torin Thatcher once again, with Judi Meredith in a stunning double role as both a delicate heroine and her evil counterpart in a magician’s mirror. Plus more stop-motion monsters than one can throw a ten-league boot at! Boy, we’re coining phrases left and right here.

Jack the Giant Killer

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1962 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 94 + 91 min. / Street Date June 12, 2018 / Special Edition / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Kerwin Matthews, Torin Thatcher, Judi Meredith, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe, Barry Kelley, Dayton Lummis, Anna Lee, Roger Mobley, Tudor Owen.

Cinematography: David S. Horsley

Film Editor: Grant Whytock

Special Effects: Augie Lohman (practical), Howard A. Anderson (optical composites), Tim Baar, Wah Chang, Lloyd Vaughan, Gene Warren, Bill Brace, Jim Danforth, Tom Holland, Phil Kellison, David Pal (stop-motion animation).

Original Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter

Original Music Alternate musical version: musical...

Germany's Explosive Media company has a serious itch for American westerns, and they have a trio of new releases. One is a minor Hollywood classic with major graces, from the late 1950s. A second sees an American producer based in England filming in Italy with a rising international star, and for the third an established American star goes European  to stay in the game. The best thing for Yankee buyers? The discs are Region-free.

Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...

If you live in the Los Angeles area, the New Beverly Cinema is presenting a Ray Harryhausen Sinbad tribute on Friday, December 20th and Saturday, December 21, 2013. First up is the 40th anniversary showing of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad which was released in the States in April 1974. Directed by Gordon Hessler, the film co-stars John Phillip Law as Sinbad, Caroline Munro as Margiana, and Tom Baker as Koura. Note: Mr. Hessler is scheduled to appear personally at the Friday showing, as is Paul Maslansky who was a unit manager on 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts.

Kerwin Matthews stars as the titular hero in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, released here in December 1958. Along for the ride are Kathryn Grant as Princess Parisa, Richard Eyer as The Genie, and Torin Thatcher as Sokurah the Magician.

The New Beverly Cinema is located at 7165 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

Click here for showtimes and ticket info.

Cinema St. Louis presents, as part of the 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff), a special evening dedicated to the late special-effects master Ray Harryhausen. The event will take place on Friday November 15th beginning at 7pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium.

It’s a double bill of the new documentary Ray Harryhausen, Special Effects Titan and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, one of Harryhausen’s showcase masterpieces. One ticket price covers both films.

The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) plays at 7:00pm and follows legendary Sinbad the Sailor (Kerwin Mathews) and his betrothed, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), as they tussle with evil magician Sokurah both in Baghdad and on the island of Colossa. The film includes several iconic Harryhausen creations: the Cyclops, the dancing snake woman, and the famous sword fight between Sinbad and the skeleton. TV Guide calls the film “one of the greatest...

Cinema St. Louis presents, as part of the 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff), a special evening dedicated to the late special-effects master Ray Harryhausen. The event will take place on Friday November 15th beginning at 7pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium.

It’s a double bill of the new documentary Ray Harryhausen, Special Effects Titan and The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, one of Harryhausen’s showcase masterpieces. One ticket price covers both films.

The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) plays at 7:00pm and follows legendary Sinbad the Sailor (Kerwin Mathews) and his betrothed, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), as they tussle with evil magician Sokurah both in Baghdad and on the island of Colossa. The film includes several iconic Harryhausen creations: the Cyclops, the dancing snake woman, and the famous sword fight between Sinbad and the skeleton. TV Guide calls the film “one of the greatest...

Dolores Hope wanted to live in Beverly Hills, but her funnyman husband, Bob Hope, had other ideas. "Every time I mentioned Beverly Hills, Bob would go out and buy another piece of property here," Dolores would say, waving a hand to indicate the vast spread that the two of them inhabited in the San Fernando Valley's Toluca Lake starting in 1939. Eventually the grounds surrounding their English-style manor swelled to 5.16 acres, and the family grew to include four children. The house grew, too, to 15,000 sq. ft., leaving Bob to joke that he needed a map just to find the way to his room.

Fans of Ray Harryhausen came to pay their respects to the filmmaking titan at last night’s Day 1 of American Cinematheque’s tribute to the stop-motion wizard. At the classic, old-time Aero Theater in Santa Monica, people came far and wide to get a double dose of Sinbad.

Before the screening, I perused the wonderful collection of Ray Harryhausen’s very own art, showcasing many original signed copies, featuring Sinbad, Jason, Ymir, centaurs, and cyclops… all of Harryhausen’s movie monsters and heroes that made it to the big screen with his vivid imagination. The collection came courtesy of the great Art Kandy, an organization that has all the artwork up for sale, ranging from $75 to $2,100. You can check some of the pieces in the gallery below.

For me, this was a unique experience. I had never seen a Ray Harryhausen film projected on the big screen, limited to my...

Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev Andrei Tarkovsky, Audrey Hepburn, Clara Bow Movies: Packard Campus May 2012 Schedule Friday, April 27 (7:30 p.m.) Solaris (Magna, 1972) An alien intelligence infiltrates a space mission. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. With Natalya Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis. Sci-fi psychological drama. Black & White and color, 167 min. In Russian and German with English subtitles. Saturday, April 28 (7:30 p.m.) To Kill A Mockingbird (Universal, 1962) A Southern lawyer defends a black man wrongly accused of rape, and tries to explain the proceedings to his children. Directed by Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Brock Peters and Robert Duvall. Drama. Black & white, 129 min. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1995. Thursday, May 3 (7:30 p.m.) The Little Giant (Warner Bros., 1933) A Chicago beer magnate about to lose his business with the repeal of Prohibition, moves to California and tries to join society's upper crust, but his gangster origins prove tough to shake.

DVD Playhouse—March 2012

By Allen Gardner

J. Edgar (Warner Bros.) Director Clint Eastwood provides a rock-solid, albeit rather flat portrait of polarizing FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, covering his life from late teens to his death. Leonardo DiCaprio does an impressive turn as Hoover, never crossing the line into caricature, and creating a Hoover that is all too human, making for an all the more unsettling look at absolute power run amuck. Where the film stumbles is the love story at its core: Hoover’s relationship with longtime aide Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). In the hands of an openly-gay director like Gus Van Sant, this could have been a heartbreaking, tender story of forbidden (unrequited?) love, but Eastwood seems to tiptoe around their romance, with far too much delicacy and deference. The film works well when recreating the famous crimes and investigations which Hoover made his name on (the Lindbergh kidnapping,...

Chicago – Otto Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder” is a film that certainly still entertains modern audiences but should best be considered in light of when it came out in theaters. In 1959, courtroom dramas weren’t nearly as prevalent as they are in the era of “Law & Order” and discussions of rape and murder were not yet common in film. It may be hard for young audiences to believe but this spectacular film truly pushed the envelope of what could be done in a film like it and creatively succeeded in every way.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Instead of going with the censorship that faced the movie (it was even banned in Chicago for some time), the country and the industry embraced “Anatomy of a Murder” and the movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for James Stewart and Best Supporting Actor for George C. Scott (losing...

Tab Hunter turns 80 today. In his honor, Turner Classic Movies is showing five of his films. The first of the batch, Phil Karlson's Western Gunman's Walk, is on right now. Hunter and The Time Tunnel's James Darren play rancher Van Heflin's sons. Next is Ride the Wild Surf, starring Hunter and teen idol Fabian as a couple of dudes riding waves in Hawaii. Featuring some cool surfing footage and tons of corny dialogue, Ride the Wild Surf is a guilty pleasure. In his highly readable autobiography, Tab Hunter: Confidential, Hunter says his brother Walt — a former surfer — was his inspiration for the role. (Not that Hunter actually had to do any surfing.) He adds that director Don Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor's husband-to-be in Father of the Bride) had to step away for a week due to a death in the family, so Phil Karlson was brought in as a temporary replacement.

Actor William Campbell died on April 29 at age 87 of "natural causes" at the Motion Picture & Television Fund's hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills. Though perhaps best-remembered for his roles in two Star Trek episodes, "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "The Squire of Gothos" (doing a Liberace sendup), Campbell appeared in more than 30 features, and nearly 50 television series and movies. On the big screen, Campbell's most notable role was probably as San Quentin inmate Whit Whittier, the "Lovers' Lane Bandit," in Fred F. Sears' Cell 2455 Death Row (1955), a competent if uninspired prison drama based on death-row inmate Caryl Chessman's bestselling autobiography. (Despite worldwide appeals for clemency, Chessman was sent to the gas chamber in 1960.) Had Cell 2455 Death Row been a sleeper hit, Campbell might have become a star (one of his romantic interests in the film, Kathryn Grant, went on to [...]...

Bing Crosby's widow is recovering from major injuries suffered in a deadly traffic crash in the Sierra Nevada. Kathryn Crosby, 77, was hurt and her husband, Maurice William Sullivan, 85, was killed in the Nov. 4 single-vehicle wreck east of Placerville, California, state Highway Patrol spokesman Dan Stark said Thursday. The former actress, a California resident, was flown to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno and has since been discharged. Sullivan was westbound when his vehicle left the roadway, struck a large boulder and rolled many times, ejecting him, Start said. The cause of the crash has not been determined, and an investigation continues. "We may do some follow-up with her (Kathryn Crosby) to determine the events that led up to the accident," Stark said, adding he had no details on her injuries or update on her condition. Kathryn Crosby's family did not return phone calls seeking comment. She and the crooner,...

Bing Crosby's widow was seriously injured in a car crash in California which killed her second husband in November, according to a new report. Kathryn Crosby and Maurice William Sullivan were traveling just east of Placerville on November 4 when the vehicle left the road, struck a large boulder and rolled over several times.

Sullivan, 85, was thrown from the vehicle and died from his injuries, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Dan Stark. Former actress Kathryn, 77, was left with major injuries and was flown to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, reports the Associated Press.

Robert Bader, the vice president of marketing and production for Bing Crosby Enterprises, reveals Kathryn is currently "doing well" in hospital. Officials plan to talk to the star to establish the circumstances of the crash.

Stark says, "We may do some follow-up with her to determine the events that led up to the accident.

The trailer for Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage may have you scratching your head until you realize that it’s an homage to Ray Harryhausen’s Dynamation. Then, you hope that Patrick Stewart, whose voice fills the preview, knows what he’s doing and that this will do Harryhausen, who turned 90 last month, proud. Watch the trailer below, along with a crash course on Dynamation — a combination of “animation, normal human action, and trick photo effects in color” as seen in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. (“The out-flung arm of the sleeping princess actually shrinks before your eyes. This effect was...

Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 5, has dusted off eight films of the celebrated genre and adapted them to DVD format. Collections like these, which bring older films to newer light, are godsends regardless (to a degree) of which films are selected, because as timeless as some of these stories and performances might be, the barrier of being stuck in an old format can bury them forever. And these stories deserve to be told. If you watch a few well made noir thrillers you will no doubt see the seeds that were planted in the heads of crime-thriller filmmakers the likes of Martin Scorsese or Michael Mann. Though there are better films in the noir genre that this collection could have culminated, there are also a lot worse. Any fan of noir films or old mysteries and thrillers will be pleased at what this box set has to offer.

Desperate (1947)

Directed...

By Greg Hernandez

HollywoodNews.com: Who knew J.R. Ewing could be so forgiving?

Of course I’m really talking about actor Larry Hagman who last night at The Magic Castle in Hollywood reunited with Mary Crosby, the actress whose character shot dastardly J.R. Ewingon Dallas back in 1980 in TVs first great cliffhanger.

Photographer Brian Putnam snapped the two together last night after a cabaret performance by Mary’s mother, Kathryn Crosby.

Mary’s father, of course, was Bing Crosby and Kathryn’s show was a tribute to the late, great crooner.

The Who Shot J.R. episode of Dallas was titled A House Divided and was broadcast on March 21, 1980. Viewers had to wait all summer, and most of the autumn because of a Hollywood actors’ strike (and Hagman’s own holdout), to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.

Awards News,...

Your filmic birthdays for 11/25

1914 Joe Dimaggio, center fielder and Mr. Marilyn Monroe, albeit briefly

1920 Ricardo Montalban "Smiles everyone, smiles." (sniffle)

1933 Kathryn Grant, aka Mrs. Bing Crosby, whose film career was spotted with famous stuff (Rear Window, My Sister Eileen, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad) but less than a decade in length.

1947 Jonathan Kaplan, director of 80s & 90s actresses (Bad Girls, Love Field, The Accused, Heart Like a Wheel) who now only works on TV

1947 Tracey Walter, character actor

1960 JFK Jr., prince of Camelot, dater of actresses, magazine entrepeneur. I loved George back in the day. Remember that?

1965 Dougray Scott, the almost Wolverine (Mi:ii, Enigma, Dark Water)

1984 Gaspard Ulliel, French looker. Also acts.

Feinstein's At Loews Regency, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, continues its 10th Anniversary season with the return of Kathryn Crosby for one night only on Monday, June 15. Mrs. Crosby will perform her autobiographical show, "My Life With Bing," which recounts the story of her relationship with husband and Hollywood legend, Bing Crosby.