Gig Young

Infobox actor
name = Gig Young


imagesize =
caption = Young in the trailer for the film "Old Acquaintance" (1943)
birthdate = birth date|1913|11|4
birthplace = St. Cloud, Minnesota, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1978|10|19|1913|11|4
deathplace = New York City, New York,U.S.
birthname = Byron Elsworth Barr
occupation = actor
yearsactive = 1940 - 1978
spouse = Sheila Stapler (1940-1947)
Sophie Rosenstein (1950-1952)
Elizabeth Montgomery (1956-1963)
Elaine Young (1963-1966)
Kim Schmidt (1978-1978)
academyawards = Best Supporting Actor
1969 "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
goldenglobeawards = Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1969 "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"

Gig Young (November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an Academy Award-winning American film and television actor.

Early life and career

Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St. Cloud, Minnesota, his parents John and Emma Barr raised him and his older siblings in Washington D.C. He developed a passion for the theatre while appearing in high school plays, and after some amateur experience he applied for and received a scholarship to the acclaimed Pasadena Community Playhouse. While acting in "Pancho", a south-of-the-border play by Lowell Barrington, he and the leading actor in the play, George Reeves, were spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout. Both actors were signed to supporting player contracts with the studio. His early work was credited under other names, but after appearing in the 1942 film "The Gay Sisters" as a character named "Gig Young", the studio liked the name and decided to rechristen him as "Gig Young". [http://www.bobsbewitchingdaughter.com/EMsixyeargig.html "Six Year Gig"] . BobsBewitchingDaughter.com.]

Young appeared in supporting roles in numerous films during the 1940s, and came to be regarded as a popular and likeable second lead, playing the brothers or friends of the principal characters. During World War II, Young took a hiatus from his movie career and served in the United States Coast Guard. After returning from WWII, Warner Bros. dropped his option. He then began freelancing at various studios, eventually obtaining a contract with Columbia Pictures before returning to freelancing. During those years, Young began to play the type of role that he would become best known for, a sardonic but engaging and affable drunk. His dramatic work as an alcoholic in the 1951 film "Come Fill the Cup" and his comedic role as a tipsy but ultimately charming intellectual in "Teacher's Pet" earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

uccess and decline

In 1955, Young became the host of "Warner Bros. Presents", an umbrella title for three television series ("Casablanca", "King's Row", and "Cheyenne") that aired during the 1955-56 season on ABC Television. Later, he starred on the 1964-65 NBC series "The Rogues", sharing appearances on a rotating basis with David Niven and Charles Boyer in the Four Star Television production.

Young won the Academy Award for his role as Rocky, the dance marathon emcee and promoter in the 1969 film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" According to his fourth wife, Elaine Williams, "What he was aching for, as he walked up to collect his Oscar, was a role in his own movie—one that they could finally call 'a Gig Young movie.' For Gig, the Oscar was literally the kiss of death, the end of the line". [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949574/bio "Gig Young Biography and Trivia"] . Internet Movie Database.] Young himself had said to Louella Parsons, after failing to win in 1951, "so many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards." [ [http://thinkexist.com/quotes/gig_young/ "Gig Young quotes"] . ThinkExist.com.]

Alcoholism plagued his later years, causing him to lose acting roles. He was fired from both "Blazing Saddles" and the role of the rarely seen but often heard Charles "Charlie" Townsend in "Charlie's Angels". [ [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/article.jsp?contentId=157892 "Facts from That Touch of Mink"] . Turner Classic Movies.] In the 1976 television film "Sherlock Holmes in New York", Young's problem is visible on screen, as he steps on the cues of other actors in trying to get his lines out and in general appears to be in a haze.

Personal life

Young was married five times; his first marriage to Sheila Stapler lasted seven years, ending in 1947. In 1950, he married Sophia Rosenstein. His second wife was diagnosed with cancer, and died just short of two years after the couple's wedding. After her death, Young was briefly engaged to actress Elaine Stritch.

He met actress Elizabeth Montgomery after she appeared on an episode of "Warner Bros. Presents" in 1956, and the two married later that year. The union lasted six stormy years and ended amid rumors of domestic violence. [ [http://members.aol.com/VictorMas/bio.html Elizabeth Montgomery biography] ]

Young married fourth wife Elaine Williams nine months after his divorce from Montgomery was final. Williams was pregnant with Young's child at the time and gave birth to Young's only child, Jennifer, on April 21, 1964. Young originally considered Jennifer's birth "a miracle" as he had undergone a vasectomy at age 25 due to health problems. During his marriage to Montgomery, he had the procedure reversed although he and Montgomery never had children.

After three years of marriage, the couple divorced. During a legal battle over child support with his ex-wife Elaine, Young publicly denied Jennifer as being his biological child, saying he felt he had been tricked into marriage. Since he had claimed Jennifer as his child in the original divorce papers, he had no legal recourse in the matter.

On September 27, 1978, at age 64, Young married his fifth wife, a 31 year-old Australian art gallery employee named Kim Schmidt. He had met Schmidt on the set of his final film, "Game of Death", where she was working as a script supervisor.

Death

On October 19, 1978, three weeks after his marriage to Schmidt, the couple was found dead at home in their Manhattan apartment. [ [http://aolsvc.timeforkids.kol.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912228,00.html "DIED. Gig Young"] . Time magazine.] Police theorized that Young first shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself in a murder-suicide. After an investigation, police stated Young had acted on the spur of the moment and his actions were not planned. The motive of the murder-suicide remains unclear. It was later revealed that Young had been receiving psychiatric treatment—including experimental use of LSD [ [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/article.jsp?contentId=157892 "Facts from That Touch of Mink"] . Turner Classic Movies.] —from the controversial psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy, who was later professionally decertified for his controlling treatment of Beach Boy Brian Wilson. [cite web |url=http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2006/04/psychobit-eugene-landy.html |title=PSYCHOBIT: Eugene Landy |accessdate=2007-10-28 |publisher= Norockandrollfun.com |date=2006-04-04]

Young's will, which covered a $200,000 estate, left his Academy Award to his agent, Martin Baum and Baum's wife. Young left his daughter, Jennifer, $10.Fact|date=February 2008

Young was buried in the Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville, North Carolina. [findagrave |id=6120|name=Gig Young] For his contribution to the television industry, Young has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Other awards and nominations

=Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards=

*Won: Best Supporting Actor, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1971)

Laurel Awards

*Nominated: Top Male Comedy Performance, "Teacher's Pet" (4th place, 1958)
*Won: Top Male Supporting Performance, "The Tunnel of Love" (1959)
*Won: Top Male Supporting Performance, "That Touch of Mink" (1963)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0949574|name=Gig Young
*tcmdb name|id=211276|name=Gig Young
*tv.com person|9147|Gig Young
*findagrave |id=6120|name=Gig Young

Persondata
NAME= Young, Gig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Barr, Byron Elsworth
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= November 4, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH= St. Cloud, Minnesota, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH= October 19, 1978
PLACE OF DEATH= New York, New York, U.S.