Bing Crosby

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Birthday:

2 May 1903, Tacoma, Washington, USA

Birth Name:

Harry Lillis Crosby

Height:

170 cm

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children of Catherine Helen "Kate" (Harrigan) and Harry Lowe Crosby, a brewery bookkeeper. He was of English and Irish descent. Crosby 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 (1932), 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 (1944). 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 (1954). 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. Show less «

[on Frank Sinatra] Frank is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?

I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the 20th century that have made great strides in reverse.

Everyone knows I'm just a big, good-natured slob.

[about Elvis Presley] He helped to kill off the influence of me and my contemporaries, but I respect him for that. Because music always has ...Show more »

[about Elvis Presley] He helped to kill off the influence of me and my contemporaries, but I respect him for that. Because music always has to progress, and no-one could have opened the door to the future like he did. Show less «

Honestly, I think I've stretched a talent which is so thin it's almost transparent over a quite unbelievable term of years.

[his own epitaph] He was an average guy who could carry a tune.

Once or twice I've been described as a light comedian. I consider this the most accurate description of my abilities I've ever seen.

[on his phenomenally successful single "White Christmas"] A jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully.

[in 1954] I don't sing anywhere as good as I used to, and I feel sincerely that it's getting worse. I don't see any purpose in trying to str...Show more »

[in 1954] I don't sing anywhere as good as I used to, and I feel sincerely that it's getting worse. I don't see any purpose in trying to stretch something out that was once acceptable and that now is merely adequate, if that. I don't know what the reason for this condition is, unless it's apathy. I just don't have the interest in singing. I am not keen about it any more. Songs all sound alike to me, and some of them so shoddy and trivial. I don't mean I didn't sing some cheap songs in the old days, but I had such a tremendous interest in singing and was so wrapped up in the work that it didn't matter. I don't know how to diagnose the condition, but it seems to me that possibly this apathy, this lack of desire, when I have to go to a recording session, transmits itself into nervous exhaustion and fatigue. Show less «

[on Frank Sinatra] He has this tense Sicilian quality while I don't have any tenseness at all and I just hang in there with what I call a de...Show more »

[on Frank Sinatra] He has this tense Sicilian quality while I don't have any tenseness at all and I just hang in there with what I call a dead ass. But Frank gets picked on by people who want to see how tough he is and he usually obliges them with a demonstration. Like all Sicilians, if he is a friend he will always be a friend -- and if he is an enemy, go on hating. Show less «

[on Bob Hope] Hope? He's got more money on him than I have.

[on Judy Garland] The most talented woman I ever knew was Judy Garland. She was a great, great comedienne and she could do more things than ...Show more »

[on Judy Garland] The most talented woman I ever knew was Judy Garland. She was a great, great comedienne and she could do more things than any girl I ever knew. Act, sing, dance, make you laugh. She was everything. I had a great affection for her. Such a tragedy. Too much work, too much pressure, the wrong kind of people as husbands. Show less «

[on Judy Garland] There wasn't a thing that gal couldn't do -- except look after herself.

[on W.C. Fields] His comedy routines appeared spontaneous and improvised, but he spent much time perfecting them. He knew exactly what he wa...Show more »

[on W.C. Fields] His comedy routines appeared spontaneous and improvised, but he spent much time perfecting them. He knew exactly what he was doing every moment, and what each prop was supposed to do. That My Little Chickadee (1940) way of talking of his was natural. Show less «

[on Fred Astaire] But when you're in a picture with Astaire, you've got rocks in your head if you do much dancing. He's so quick-footed and ...Show more »

[on Fred Astaire] But when you're in a picture with Astaire, you've got rocks in your head if you do much dancing. He's so quick-footed and so light that it's impossible not to look like a hay-digger compared with him. Show less «

[on Grace Kelly] She's a great lady, with great talent and kind, considerate, friendly with everybody. She was great with the crew and they ...Show more »

[on Grace Kelly] She's a great lady, with great talent and kind, considerate, friendly with everybody. She was great with the crew and they all loved her. Show less «

[on John Boles singing his solo in King of Jazz (1930)] I have often wondered what might have happened to me if I had sung "The Song of the ...Show more »

[on John Boles singing his solo in King of Jazz (1930)] I have often wondered what might have happened to me if I had sung "The Song of the Dawn". It certainly helped Boles - on the strength of it, he got a lot of pictures. I must say, he had a bigger voice and a better delivery for that kind of song than I had. My crooning style wouldn't have been good for such a number, which was supposed to have been delivered a la breve, like "The Vagabond Song". I might have flopped with it. I might have been cut out of "The King of Jazz". I might never have been given another crack at a song in any picture. Show less «

[accepting his Oscar] This is the only country in the world where an old broken-down crooner can win an Oscar for acting. It shows that ever...Show more »

[accepting his Oscar] This is the only country in the world where an old broken-down crooner can win an Oscar for acting. It shows that everybody in this country has a chance to succeed. I was just lucky enough to have Leo McCarey take me by the hand and lead me through the picture. Show less «

[at the start of his career] If I'm going to get by in pictures, it's going to be as a singer, with about as much acting as you would expect...Show more »

[at the start of his career] If I'm going to get by in pictures, it's going to be as a singer, with about as much acting as you would expect from a guy standing in front of a microphone. Show less «

[after Hedda Hopper asked if he was considering retirement] Every day, but I'm sure I'll never get caught up with my work in time to do it.