Audrey Young

Audrey Young (October 30, 1922 in Los Angeles, California – June 1, 2012 in Los Angeles, California)[1] was an American film actress and a big-band singer who was most active in the 1940s. She was also the wife of director Billy Wilder from 1949 until his death in 2002.

This article is about the American actress and singer. For the British aristocrat of the same name, see Audrey Osborne, Duchess of Leeds.

Early years

Young was born in Los Angeles, California,[2] Her father, Stratton Young,[3] built sets for films.[4]

Career

Young was a contract actor with Paramount Pictures in the 1940s,[2] appearing in approximately 20 films from 1944 to 1949. Her film debut came in Lady in the Dark (1944).[5] She had sung with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra before becoming an actress, and she sang (either solo or as part of a group) in several films, including Blue Skies.[4] Most of her roles were small and uncredited, with only a few exceptions like Danger Street and The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap. Her final film appearance was in Love Me or Leave Me (1955).[1]

On November 1, 1944, Young appeared on a Paramount Studios television variety program that was broadcast on station W6XYZ (later KTLA) in Los Angeles. She sang "What a Difference a Day Makes" and "Getting Sentimental Over You". In a review in the trade publication Billboard, Cy Wagner wrote that Young "had a nice voice and was very telegenic."[6] She also sang in vaudeville.[7]

Young worked as a costume consultant on two films, The Apartment and Some Like It Hot.[5]

Personal life

On June 30, 1949, Young married director Billy Wilder in Linden, Nevada.[3] They first met when she appeared in a small role as a Cloak Room Attendant in The Lost Weekend and were married until his death in 2002.[2] They had no children, but she was stepmother to Wilder's two children from an earlier marriage.[4] Following Wilder's death, she donated $5 million to the Hammer Museum at UCLA to create the Billy Wilder Theater.[2] She died in June 2012 at age 89 in Los Angeles.

References
  1. "She donated funds for Billy Wilder Theater". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. June 10, 2012. p. 34. Retrieved 31 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Lentz, Harris M., III (2013). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2012. McFarland. p. 313. ISBN 9780786470631. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  3. "Billy Wilder Marries Singer Audrey Young". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. July 1, 1949. p. 4. Retrieved 31 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Audrey Young, widow of Billy Wilder, dies at 89". Variety. June 6, 2012. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  5. Pedersen, Erik (June 7, 2012). "Audrey Young Dies; Actress and Widow of Billy Wilder". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  6. Wagner, Cy (November 11, 1944). "Paramount" (PDF). Billboard. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  7. "Vaudeville Reviews: Roxy, New York" (PDF). Billboard. August 2, 1947. p. 42. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
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