Saw him an an episode of "The Twilight Zone" early this morning and was fascinated by his screen presence. Read up on him and discovered he had a pretty tragic later life, mostly because of his alcoholism (Elizabeth Montgomery divorced him because of it). Any stories about this Oscar winner?

He shot is last wife (new bride) and then turned the gun on himself.

I wanted Doris Day to pick him over Frank Sinatra the first time I saw "Young at Heart".

Gig Young was originally slated to play The Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles but he was so sloshed that Mel Brooks shit-canned him and hired Gene Wilder,

Didn't his ex wife destroy her face with bad plastic surgery?

I'd read that he passed out on the "Blazing Saddles" set and was fired. He must've shown up stone cold D-R-U-N-K!

He was the great love of Elaine Strich's life. He was a divorced Protestant and Strich was a convent-educated Catholic. He, ne Byron Barr, and Strich ended their relationshio

Yes, his ex, the late "realtor to the stars" Elaine Young, fucked up her face with silicone injections. (The surgeon, Jack Startz, was the same guy who remade Scott Thorson in Liberace's image.)

He was slated to be "Charlie" of CHARLIE'S ANGELS, but was too drunk to perform. John Forsythe was in the building and he was drafted to read the part of Charlie Townsend

Coincidentally this afternoon on YouTube I watched The Neon Ceiling for the first time since seeing it on TV as a child. Lee Grant was great of course but I was quite impressed by Gig Young.

Living in NYC when he killed himself and his new wife I remember it as a big new story.

Following is link to his biography which I now want to reread.

His fourth wife, also named Elaine, was a celebrity real estate agent, selling properties in Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

He was great in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY.

I always get Gig Young and Robert Long confused.

An underrated actor, in my view, possibly because of his alcoholism. His stage name came from a part he played in a movie with Barbara Stanwyck:

[quote]His early work was uncredited or as Byron Barr (not to be confused with another actor with the same name, Byron Barr), but after appearing in the 1942 film The Gay Sisters as a character named "Gig Young", the studio decided that he should adopt this name professionally.

R13, you mean Richard Long?

Didn't he leave a suicide note saying he killed himself because he was bored? Or was that someone else?

R16, that was George Sanders (one of Zsa Zsa Gabor's ex-husbands).

Yes, he was, R12. He also was great and hilarious in Lovers and Other Strangers, another fantastic ensemble film.

He was hilarious and perhaps the best thing about THAT TOUCH OF MINK, the Doris Day and Cary Grant rom-com that was a box office hit, but a critical dud.

It was George Sanders, who in his suicide note, said that he was taking his own life because he was bored,

Gig Young became an alcoholic because he never got to be the lead in films. Mainly he was cast as the supporting actor. Gig Young suicide was a murder suicide because he shot his wife then himself. I think he couldn't handle his career going down the tubes and it was too much for him to handle.

R20 No, hon. I was the best thing in that movie.

Young won Oscar nominations for COME FILL THE CUP in 1951, playing an alcoholic that ex-alcoholic Jimmy Cagney tries to sober up; and a child shrink in TEACHER'S PET (opposite Clark Gable and Doris Day)

Gig Young was often confused with Robert Sterling and Richard Long. I call them "The Triplets."

Pictured is Robert Sterling. As a kid I watched him and his wife Ann Jefferys play George and Marion Kirby in "Topper" on TV. And she's still alive!

Robert Stering was married to Ann Sothern; their daughter is actress Tish Sterling

Here's a picture of Richard Long with a good friend.

Elaine Young was one of the first semi-famous plastic surgery disasters. Today, she's alarming-looking but hardly unique.

I, too, had a thing for Gig Young years ago and looked into his tragic life.

Of course he was a raging alcoholic and shot his wife and killed himself (you can find online the address and apartment number in NYC).

But also, I'm recollecting here, he got a big role in (I think it was) Blazing Saddles--the comedy. And on his first or second day of filming had an alcohol withdrawal seizure on set and had to be taken to hospital. It turns out he was trying to quit alcohol cold turkey the day or two he was set to begin filming and his body couldn't take it and hence seizures. He was promptly fired.

Yes, R29, it was talked about at R3 and R6.

I am reading the bio of Liz Montgomery now. Damn, she was hot.

Why didn't he just kill himself & let his poor wife alone?

[quote]I wanted Doris Day to pick him over Frank Sinatra the first time I saw "Young at Heart".

Not me, I loved that the clean cut nice girl was more attracted to the streetwise, talented stumblebum Barney Sloane.

Young at Heart and the Twilight Zone episode Walking Distance are the only things I've ever seen Gig Young in and he was very good in them both. But what a dramatic off-screen life.

I thought Gig Young was gay.

His daughter was an actress or a celebrity in the '80s or early 90s. I don't know what happened top her...she used to be on talk shows all the time.

Two young actors, Bryon Barr and George Bessolo, starred in "Pancho," beginning April 27, 1939 at the Pasadena Playhouse. After being discovered by a scout for Warner Brothers, Jack Warner renamed the two "Gig Young" and "George Reeves."

In the 1950s, Young lived near or next door to the Reeves house on 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive, Los Angeles. After Reeves' alleged suicide by a handgun, Young was one of the pallbearers at the funeral.

Gig had a lot of fans, I guess his alcoholism really ruined his career.

She looked awful in that picture. Are there no good plastic surgeons in Hollywood.

Has no one noticed the irony in Richard Long's name: "Dick" Long?

I can see some y'all don't know the definition of Ironic.

R34, he was far from it. He loved women big time, and he once said I'm the straightest actor in Hollywood.

"His daughter was an actress or a celebrity in the '80s or early 90s. I don't know what happened top her...she used to be on talk shows all the time."

Jennifer Young is her name. She once went on Howard Stern and spilled some good dish, like her once spending a weekend holed up in a hotel room with Grant Show, whom she described as having a perfectly curved cock.

He was a good actor, but a truly hopeless alcoholic. It's probably best that he was too sick (according to Mel Brooks he showed up for work shaking uncontrollably due to DTs) to do Blazing Saddles. I don't think he was right for that role in the first place.

He was perfect as the MC in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? "Yowza, yowza"...perfect!

I think he took his name, Gig Young, from a character in one of his first movies.

"His early work was uncredited or as Byron Barr (not to be confused with another actor with the same name, Byron Barr), but after appearing in the 1942 film The Gay Sisters as a character named "Gig Young", the studio decided that he should adopt this name professionally."

"The Gay Sisters" should be remade, using the same title.

Gig Young was so cute back in the day. So adorable in The Gay Sisters.

I was watching an episode of The Rogues and Gig reminded me of someone with MS like Mike JFox has the uncontrollable twitch. Anybody know of this?

Young shot his wife and himself in their apartment at the Osborne, which is now occupied by the building's superintendent (it is on the first floor, down a hallway from the lobby). His calendar was on his desk, open to a page a couple of weeks earlier, on which he had noted, "Got married today."

Gig? It sounds like what a homosexual would nickname his arse

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5BsaW9waGl%2BbrPIoGSyp6WjtA%3D%3D