- Name: Gig Young
- Date of Birth: November 04, 1913
- Place of Birth: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Mini-bio:
Affable, immensely likable American actor, usually in second leads. A native
of Minnesota, his parents John and Emma Barr raised him in Washington, DC.
He developed a passion for the theatre while a...( read more)
of Minnesota, his parents John and Emma Barr raised him in Washington, DC.
He developed a passion for the theatre while a...( read more)
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Gig Young mini-bio: Affable, immensely likable American actor, usually in second leads. A native
of Minnesota, his parents John and Emma Barr raised him in Washington, DC.
He developed a passion for the theatre while appearing in high school plays
then, after some amateur experience, he applied for and received a
scholarship 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 Bros.
talent scout. Both actors were signed supporting player contracts with the
studio. Still acting under his given name, Byron Barr, he played bits and
even extra roles. He experimented with varying screen names because his real
name was at odds with the studio vision for the handsome young man with the
winning smile and because of another actor with the same name (see Byron
Barr). In 1942, in the picture The Gay Sisters (1942), he was given the role
of a character with the name Gig Young and thereafter adopted the name as
his own. Although he had been supplementing his income working in a gasoline
station, The Gay Sisters (1942) gave him a career boost. Although service
with the Coast Guard interrupted his ascension, he returned from the war and
soon established himself as a reliable player of light leading men roles,
usually secondarily to bigger stars. A dramatic part in Come Fill the Cup
(1951) won him a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, a feat he
repeated seven years later in a comedic role in Teacher's Pet (1958). A
prolific television career complemented his film work. In 1969, his
surprisingly seedy portrayal of a dance-marathon emcee in They Shoot Horses,
Don't They? (1969) finally won him the Oscar. A succession of marriages,
including one to actress Elizabeth Montgomery, had failed (Young was widowed
once), and the worst was to come. In 19 October 1978, three weeks after
marrying German actress Kim Schmidt, Young apparently shot her to death in
their New York City apartment and then turned the gun on himself. The direct
cause of the murder-suicide remains unclear. Young was not quite 65, his
bride 31.
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