Audrey Young

Audrey Young (October 30, 1922 – June 1, 2012)[1] was an American film actress and a big-band singer who was most active in the 1940s. She was the wife of director Billy Wilder.

This article is about the American actress and singer. For the British aristocrat of the same name, see Audrey Osborne, Duchess of Leeds.
Audrey Young
Young in 1945
Born(1922-10-22)October 22, 1922
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJune 1, 2012(2012-06-01) (aged 89)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeWestwood Village Memorial Park
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1943–1957
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1949; died 2002)​

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 in the Afternoon (1957) in an uncredited role as the opera date of Gary Cooper's character.

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, both directed by her husband.[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 child from an earlier marriage.[4] After Wilder's death, Young donated $5 million to the Hammer Museum at UCLA to create the Billy Wilder Theater.[2] She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[8]

References
  1. "She donated funds for Billy Wilder Theater". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. June 10, 2012. p. 34. Retrieved May 31, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Lentz, Harris M., III (2013). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2012. McFarland. p. 313. ISBN 9780786470631. Retrieved May 31, 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "Billy Wilder Marries Singer Audrey Young". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. July 1, 1949. p. 4. Retrieved May 31, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Audrey Young, widow of Billy Wilder, dies at 89". Variety. June 6, 2012. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  5. Pedersen, Erik (June 7, 2012). "Audrey Young Dies; Actress and Widow of Billy Wilder". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  6. Wagner, Cy (November 11, 1944). "Paramount" (PDF). Billboard. pp. 11–12. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  7. "Vaudeville Reviews: Roxy, New York" (PDF). Billboard. August 2, 1947. p. 42. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  8. Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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