Bing Crosby Trivia

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Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 122-124. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 (imdb.com)

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. (imdb.com)

Uncle of Chris Crosby and Cathy Crosby (imdb.com)

Was the first person to sing "White Christmas". (imdb.com)

Nearly filed for divorce from his first wife in 1948 because he wanted to marry Joan Caulfield. (imdb.com)

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

Inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007.

Stagecoach (1966) was his last major film. Though it did not get good reviews, his performance as the drunken doctor was praised. Crosby felt the movies had changed a lot since his heyday, although he let it be known that he was still open to offers.

In 1969, it was reported that he was worth an estimated $75 million.

At the time of his death he was considering buying an eighteen hole golf course in Kent, England.

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.

Is portrayed by Alex Fallis in Dash and Lilly (1999) (TV).

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.

Quit smoking cigarettes in the late 1950s at the insistence of his second wife.

In 1948 a poll declared Crosby the most admired man in the world, ahead of President Harry S. Truman, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.

He is the most electronically recorded voice in history.

The Met Theater in downtown Spokane, Washington, where he was raised and performed (with the Musicaladers) as a young man in 1925, was renamed the Bing Crosby Theater on December 8, 2006. The Met was built in 1915. Bing was also a giving donor to the city`s Gonzaga University.

Named eldest son Gary Crosby after his close friend Gary Cooper.

Four songs Crosby sang in movies - "Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944), and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951) - won Oscars.

Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978.

Delayed his marriage to Kathryn Grant until 1957 due to his long affair with Grace Kelly.

In 1962 Crosby was the first recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is estimated to have sold between 500 million and 900 million records worldwide. Most of these sales were singles.

Mary Carlisle, who worked with him in films, noticed he was self-conscious about his height, and he wore lifts. Crosby once told Alan Ladd how pleased he was that Ladd was shorter than him at 5`5". Bing maintained he was 5` 9", but an office secretary named Nancy Briggs recalled a visit to his home when he wore slippers and she realized he was her height - 5` 7".

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 sang on 4,000 radio shows from 1931 to 1962 and was the top-rated radio star for eighteen of those years.

His last television appearance was in "Bing Crosby`s Merrie Olde Christmas" which was taped in England and shown in the United States on 30 November 1977, and in the United Kingdom on 24 December 1977. This final show has also been made available on commercial video.

In a great many of his films, he played lighthearted comedy and musical roles as a singer or songwriter. His usual casual approach belied the fact that Crosby was a fine dramatic actor, as witnessed by his portrayals in Little Boy Lost (1953), The Country Girl (1954), Man on Fire (1957), and his last major film Stagecoach (1966). He also starred in the television movie Dr. Cook`s Garden (1971) (TV) and won much critical acclaim for his performance.

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.

On the day of his death he played a full 18 holes of golf, where he scored a respectable 85 and won the match. Walking off the 18th green of the La Moraleja Golf Club, in a suburb of Madrid, Spain, he suffered a massive heart attack. His last words were reported as, "That was a great game of golf, fellas." However, according to the Summer 2001 issue of Club Crosby`s BINGANG magazine, he then said, "Let`s go have a Coca-Cola." According to his biographer Gary Giddens, Crosby`s last words were, "Let`s go get a Coke.".

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.

In 1960 he received a platinum record as First Citizen of the Record Industry for having sold 200 million discs, a number that doubled by 1980.

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.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, his "White Christmas" has sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles.

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.

Is one of only five actors/actresses to have a #1 single and an Oscar for best actor/actress. The others are Barbra Streisand, `Frank Sinatra`, Cher and Jamie Foxx.

Until the late 1970s he had been listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as having sold more recordings than any other entertainer.

His mother was of Irish and Finnish descent, while his father`s family was English.

He is only one of four 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).

At the time of his death in 1977, he was the biggest selling recording artist of all time.

Became seriously ill around Christmas 1973, with chest pains and respiratory problems. Both Bing and wife Kathryn Grant thought he had lung cancer. In January 1974 he felt so ill he consented to be hospitalized, and a large tumor was found in his left lung. The tumor and three-fifths of the lung were removed, and over the next months he slowly recovered. Since the tumor was benign, it was believed his illness was caused by a fungal infection from a recent safari in Africa.

Pictured on a 29 cent U.S. commemorative postage stamp in the "Legends of American Music" series, issued September 1st 1994.

Through the electronics lab he funded, he was heavily involved in the initial development of both audio and video tape recording in the late `40s and early `50s, primarily for use on his own TV and radio projects. One of the very first commercial uses of audio tape in the USA, in fact, was the recording and editing of his radio program on the ABC network around 1946-48. His early videotape format, however, was quickly obscured by Ampex`s industry-standard Quadruplex format.

Grandfather of L. Chip Crosby Jr.

Phil Crosby, Jr., Bing`s grandson, formed a jazz quartet in the Los Angeles area and is bringing a semi-resurgence of interest in Bing and his music.

On October 13, 1977, the day before Crosby`s death, independent producer Lew Grade announced that he was reuniting Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour onscreen for the film "Road to the Fountain of Youth," ending several years of speculation at to whether the trio would reunite professionally or not.

He and his second wife and younger children did TV commercials for Minute Maid orange juice, because he owned the company.

Refused the role of Columbo due to the fact that he felt that it would interfere with his golf game.

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.

In March of 1950, he had his appendix removed.