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1-4 of 4
- Actor
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The stocky-framed, lookalike son of singing legend Bing Crosby who had that same bemused, forlorn look, fair hair and jug ears, Gary was the eldest of four sons born to the crooner and his first wife singer/actress Dixie Lee. The boys' childhood was an intensely troubled one with all four trying to follow in their father's incredibly large footsteps as singers and actors. As youngsters, they briefly appeared with Bing as themselves in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) and Duffy's Tavern (1945). Gary proved to be the most successful of the four, albeit a minor one. As a teen, he sang duet on two songs with his famous dad, "Sam's Song" and "Play a Simple Melody," which became the first double-sided gold record in history. He and his brothers also formed their own harmonic singing group "The Crosby Boys" in subsequent years but their success was fleeting. Somewhere in the middle of all this Gary managed to attend Stanford University, but eventually dropped out.
Gary concentrated a solo acting career in the late 50s and appeared pleasantly, if unobtrusively, in such breezy, lightweight fare as Mardi Gras (1958), Holiday for Lovers (1959), A Private's Affair (1959), Battle at Bloody Beach (1961) (perhaps his best role), Operation Bikini (1963), and Girl Happy (1965) with Elvis Presley. Making little leeway, he turned to TV series work. The Bill Dana Show (1963) and Adam-12 (1968) as Officer Ed Wells kept him occasionally busy in the 60s and early 70s, also guesting on such shows as The Twilight Zone (1959) and Matlock (1986). Getting only so far as a modestly-talented Crosby son, Gary's erratic career was hampered in large part by a long-standing alcohol problem that began in his teens. In 1983, Gary published a "Daddy Dearest" autobiography entitled "Going My Own Way," an exacting account of the severe physical and emotional abuse he and his brothers experienced at the hands of his overly stern and distant father, who had died back in 1977. Mother Dixie, an alcoholic and recluse, died long before of ovarian cancer in 1952. All four boys went on to have lifelong problems with the bottle, with Gary hitting bottom several times. The tell-all book estranged Gary from the rest of his immediate family and did nothing to rejuvenate his stalled career. Two of his brothers, Dennis Crosby and Lindsay Crosby, later committed suicide. Gary was divorced from his third wife and was about to marry a fourth when he learned he had lung cancer. He died on August 24, 1995, two months after the diagnosis.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Zbynek Brynych was born on 13 June 1927 in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and writer, known for ...and the Fifth Horseman Is Fear (1965), Transport z ráje (1963) and Zizkovská romance (1958). He died on 24 August 1995 in Prague, Czech Republic.- John Terry Bell was born on 4 June 1942 in Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Remington Steele (1982), Project U.F.O. (1978) and Masada (1981). He died on 24 August 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Champion diver Richard Kempster Degener was born on March 14, 1912 in Michigan. Known as "The Fred Astaire of Diving," Degener won the bronze medal in the 3 meter springboard event at the 1932 Olympics. Richard subsequently won a gold medal in this same event at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. Moreover, Degener was honored at a banquet that was the first celebration of Champions Day in Detroit, Michigan in April, 1936. Richard went on to be vindicated once again as one of five champion athletes featured on a plaque from the White House honoring Detroit as the City of Champions in July of that same year. In addition, Degener never lost a diving contest in college during the three years he represented Michigan from 1931 to 1934 by winning both the Big Ten and National Collegiate championships. Richard's other impressive athletic achievements include winning four Amateur Athletic Union Nationals in the high board as a representative of the Detroit Athletic Club, three National Collegiate Athletic Association titles for the University of Michigan, and five straight three-meter springboard titles and two one-meter titles at the Indoor Amateur Athletic Unions. Degener eventually turned pro by joining the Billy Rose Aquacade when it opened in Cleveland. Richard was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1971. He died at age 83 on August 24, 1995.