Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band's piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing's brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing "I Surrender, Dear" to the president of CBS. His live performances from New York were carried over the national radio network for 20 consecutive weeks in 1932. His radio success led Paramount Pictures to include him in The Big Broadcast, a film featuring radio favorites. His songs about not needing a bundle of money to make life happy was the right message for the decade of the Great Depression. His relaxed, low-key style carried over into the series of "Road" comedies he made with pal Bob Hope. He won the best actor Oscar for playing an easygoing priest in Going My Way. He showed that he was indeed an actor as well as a performer when he played an alcoholic actor down on his luck opposite Grace Kelly in The Country Girl. Playing golf was what he liked to do best. He died at age 74 playing golf at a course outside Madrid, Spain, after completing a tour of England that had included a sold-out engagement at the London Palladium.


My Favorite Brunette (1947): $25,000

His eldest son Gary Crosby was vocal in criticizing Bing's violent ways as a father. He wrote a sensationalist tell-all biography titled "Going My Own Way" in 1983 which was touted as a "Daddy Dearest" about Bing. Though Lindsay Crosby and Dennis Crosby fluctuated between agreeing and disagreeing with Gary's criticisms of their father, Phillip Crosby defended Bing after the book was published. Two of the sons suffered bouts of depression, much as their mother Dixie Lee had, throughout their lives and committed suicide(Lindsay and Dennis, in 1989 and 1991, respectively). Gary died of lung cancer in 1995. Phillip died of a heart attack in 2004, having defended his father to the end. Bing's children from his second marriage, including daughter and actress Mary Crosby, praised him as a kind and loving father in later life. Father, with actress Kathryn Grant, of sons Harry Crosby and Nathaniel Crosby, and of actress Mary Crosby. Brother of bandleader Bob Crosby. From the 1940s to the 1960s he owned 15% of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. His cameo in Angels in the Outfield (1951) was as part-owner of the team. Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the Grotto section, L119, #1. Was nicknamed "Bing" after a character named "Bingo" in a comic strip titled "Bingville Bugle." Opened the Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California in 1937 and collected tickets at the turnstile on opening day. Before the start of every day of racing his song "Where the Turf Meets the Surf" is played. This song was written for Del Mar and never sold commercially. He was the 20th century's first multi-media entertainer: a star on radio, in movies and in chart-topping recordings. He had 38 No. 1 singles, which surpassed even Elvis Presley and The Beatles. One of his early inspirations was Louis Armstrong, who returned the admiration. Louis once described Bing's mellow voice as "like gold being poured out of a cup." As a young adult he enjoyed carousing and drinking and actually received another nickname: "Binge" Crosby. He once spent two months in jail (weekends only) for DUI after a minor car accident, and surprised and shocked interviewers by advocating that pot be decriminalized. "White Christmas" became the bestselling single for more than 50 years until overtaken in 1997 by "Candle in the Wind", Elton John's tribute to the late Princess Diana. Star of NBC Radio's "Kraft Music Hall" (1935-1946). Star of CBS Radio's "The Bing Crosby Show" (1954-1956). Star of CBS Radio's "The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show" (1949-1952). When Chesterfield left, General Electric took over as sponsor for 1953 and 1954. He and his second wife and younger children did TV commercials for Minute Maid orange juice, because he owned considerable stock in the company. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 122-124. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 Grandfather of L. Chip Crosby Jr. Pictured on a 29 cent U.S. commemorative postage stamp in the "Legends of American Music" series, issued September 1st 1994. At the time of his death in 1977, he was the biggest selling recording artist of all time. He is only one of five actors to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. He played Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) (for which he won the Oscar) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). The others are Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Peter O'Toole as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Al Pacino as Michael Corleone for The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974) and Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Until the late 1970s he had been listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as having sold more recordings than any other entertainer. He received 23 gold records and was awarded platinum discs for his two biggest selling singles, "White Christmas" in 1960 and "Silent Night" in 1970. According to ticket sales Crosby is, at 1,077,900,000 tickets sold, the third most popular actor of all time after Clark Gable and John Wayne. He is also, according to Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac, tied for second on the "All Time Number One Stars List" with three other actors - Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks and Burt Reynolds. Crosby was the #1 box office attraction for five years, beaten only by Tom Cruise who was #1 for seven years. Between 1915 and 1980 he was the only motion-picture star to rank as the #1 box-office attraction five times (1944-48). Between 1934 and 1954 he scored in the top ten 15 times. He appeared on approximately 4,000 radio broadcasts, nearly 3,400 of them his own programs, and single-handedly changed radio from a live-performance to a canned or recorded medium by presenting, in 1946, the first transcribed network show on ABC, thereby making that also-ran network a major force. His last TV appearance was in Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas (1977) (TV) which was taped in London and broadcast, after his death, in the USA on 30 November 1977, and in the United Kingdom on 24 December 1977. This show has also been made available on commercial video. It is memorable for Crosby and David Bowie singing a duet. A longtime supporter of the Republican Party, Crosby campaigned for Wendell Willkie in the 1940 Presidential election, because he strongly believed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt should only serve two terms of office. When Roosevelt was easily re-elected, Crosby vowed never to become publicly involved in partisan politics again. He is estimated to have sold between 600 million and 900 million records worldwide. Most of these sales were singles. Was the first person to sing "White Christmas". Delayed his marriage to Kathryn Grant until 1957 due to his long affair with Grace Kelly. Named eldest son Gary Crosby after his close friend Gary Cooper. He is the most electronically recorded voice in history. His estate was valued at $150 million, making him one of the wealthiest entertainers in Hollywood, along with his friends Bob Hope and Fred MacMurray. In the autumn of 1974, having recovered from major lung surgery, Crosby performed a series of concerts at the London Palladium. This was the first time he had sung before a live audience since World War II. He repeated this engagement in 1975, 1976 and 1977. He also began recording new albums at a faster rate than he had since the early 1950s. In 1969, it was reported that he was worth an estimated $75 million. Nearly filed for divorce from his first wife in 1948 because he wanted to marry Joan Caulfield. In March 1977, after videotaping a concert for CBS to commemorate his 50th anniversary in show business, Crosby backed off the stage into an orchestra pit, rupturing a disc in his back that required a month of hospitalization. After Judy Garland was fired from MGM about 1950, he was one of the first to offer her work on his radio show to help her out of her financial woes. The two had marvelous chemistry as a comedy duo, and many of these audio recordings still survive today. Introduced three Oscar-winning songs: "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn (1942) (Music and Lyrics: Irving Berlin); "Swinging on a Star" from Going My Way (1944) (Music: James Van Heusen . Lyrics: Johnny Burke) and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from Here Comes the Groom (1951) (Music: Hoagy Carmichael . Lyrics: Johnny Mercer).