Gig Young (born
Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles,
Young won an
Academy Award for his performance as a slimy dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
An alcoholic, Young was implicated in the
murder-suicide that resulted in the deaths of his wife and himself in 1978.
Success and decline
In 1955, Young became the host of
Warner Bros. Presents, an umbrella title for three television series (
Casablanca,
Kings Row, and
Cheyenne) that aired during the 1955–56 season on
ABC Television.
He played a supporting role the same year in the Humphrey Bogart thriller
The Desperate Hours.
Young is also remembered by many
James Dean fans for the "driving safety" interview made shortly before Dean's fatal car accident in September, 1955.
On the 1964–65
NBC series
The Rogues, he shared appearances on a rotating basis with
David Niven and
Charles Boyer.
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 Young, the Oscar was literally the kiss of death, the end of the line".
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."
After a substantial supporting role in
Lovers and Other Strangers in 1970, alcoholism began to cost him roles.
He collapsed on the set of the comedy film
Blazing Saddles during his first day of shooting due to
alcohol withdrawal, and was fired
Young's last role was in the 1978 film
Game of Death, released nearly six years after the film's star,
Bruce Lee, died during production in 1973.
Personal life
Young was married five times; his first marriage to Sheila Stapler lasted seven years, ending in 1947.
In 1950, he married Sophie Rosenstein, the resident drama coach at
Paramount, who was several years Young's senior.
She was soon diagnosed with
cancer, and died just short of two years after the couple's wedding.
After her death, Young was engaged to actress
Elaine Stritch.
He met actress
Elizabeth Montgomery after she appeared in an episode of
Warner Bros. Presents in 1956, and the two married later that year.
In 1963, Montgomery divorced Young because of his alcoholism.
Young married his fourth wife, real estate agent 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 his only child, Jennifer, in April 1964.
After three years of marriage, the couple divorced.
During a legal battle over
child support with Williams, Young denied that Jennifer was his biological child.
After five years of court battles, Young lost his case.
On September 27, 1978, Young, age 64, married his fifth wife, a 31-year-old German magazine editor named Kim Schmidt.
He met Schmidt in
Hong Kong while working on
Game of Death.
Death
On October 19, 1978, three weeks after his marriage to Schmidt, the couple was found dead at home in their
Manhattan apartment.
Police theorized that Young shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself.
A motive for the murder-suicide was never made clear.
Young was at one time under the care of the psychologist and psychotherapist
Eugene Landy, who would later have his professional California medical license revoked amidst accusations of ethical violations and patient misconduct.
Young was buried in the Green Hill Cemetery in
Waynesville, North Carolina in his family's plot along with his parents, siblings and an uncle.
Young's
will, which covered a $200,000 estate, left his Academy Award to his agent,
Martin Baum and Baum's wife, Bernice; however, Young's daughter Jennifer launched a campaign in the early 1990s to get the award back from his agent, and struck an agreement that she would get the award back upon the agent's death, which occurred in 2010.
For his contribution to the television industry, Young has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821
Hollywood Boulevard.