MADRID (AP 10/15/77) -- Bing Crosby, 73, whose crooning voice and relaxed humor entertained millions worldwide for half a century, died of a heart attack yesterday after playing a round of golf here.
MADRID (AP 10/15/77) -- Bing Crosby, 73, whose crooning voice and relaxed humor entertained millions worldwide for half a century, died of a heart attack yesterday after playing a round of golf here.
Crosby collapsed after playing a game with three Spanish golf champions at the La Moraleja club and was taken to the Red Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Crosby carded an 85 and won the game by one stroke because of his golf handicap, according to Juan Tomas Gandarias, one of Crosby's partners and a professional golfer.
Gandarias, who had lunch with Crosby before the game and walked with him around the course, said the singer seemed relaxed and was joking as he left the 18th hole.
"Suddenly he dropped," he said. "Before that he had given no sign of illness although he seemed to be favoring his left arm near the end of the game."
Crosby was about 20 yards from the clubhouse when he fell. He was rushed first to the clubhouse infirmary, where a doctor gave him an injection and a pill and concluded that he had suffered "a massive heart attack."
U.S. consular officials said Crosby's body would be taken today to the U.S. Air Force base at Torrejon, outside Madrid. An American mortician is being flown in to prepare the remains for return to the United States, they said, and an autopsy is to be performed.
The singer, actor and businessman had gone to Spain primarily to relax after a tour of Britain which included a sell-out performance at the London Palladium.
He considered the tour a test of his recovery from a back injury he suffered in a fall in March. "I'm still a little limpy, but I want to find out if I can still function after the accident," he said.
His last public appearance in the United States was August 13, before about 5,000 people in Concord, Calif.
Trudy Berger, the cook at the Crosbys' home in Hillsborough, Calif., said yesterday, "He had been feeling fine. We were expecting him back in a day or two."
Mrs. Kathryn Crosby, who married the singer in 1957, arrived home about 2 p.m. and drove slowly up the short incline leading to the estate. Her eyes were red and her face wet with tears.
Friends reacted with surprise and sorrow at the news of Crosby's death. "It's a terrible shock to me," comedian George Burns said. "He was one of the greatest. He made it possible for a lot of new singers by introducing a new style. The world is going to miss him."
Frank Sinatra said, "The death of Bing Crosby is almost more than I can take. He was the father of my career, the idol of my youth and a dear friend of my maturity. Bing leaves a gaping hole in our music and in the lives of everybody who ever loved him. And that's just about everybody."
HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. (AP) -- "I can't think of any better way for a golfer who sings for a living to finish the round," an emotional Kathryn Crosby said yesterday, a few hours after her husband, Bing Crosby, died of a heart attack at a Madrid golf course.
Mrs. Crosby looked pale but smiled often as she spoke with reporters for about 25 minutes on the patio of the Crosby home here. A composed Nathaniel Crosby, 15, sat next to his mother and held her hand beneath a patio table.
"He's always been a very simple man," she said. "I think he is remembered in songs, isn't he? I think that's the way it should be."
Mrs. Crosby said one of her husband's fellow golfers told her by telephone that they had finished the game and that Crosby collapsed in the locker room. The singer apparently died of a massive heart attack, she said, and "was in only a moment's distress, if any."
"He told me that Bing had a very good round. I'd like that to be said," she said, smiling with tears in her eyes.
Mrs. Crosby said she last saw her husband Wednesday when she left London. The couple had been working together at the London Palladium, a performance that Crosby considered a test of his recovery from a back injury he suffered in March.
Crosby flew to Spain Thursday to play golf and hunt, his wife said, and he was looking forward to a chance to relax.
Funeral plans are incomplete, but Mrs. Crosby said their son, Harry Crosby, 19, and Alan Fisher, the Crosby's former butler, will fly from England to Spain to accompany Crosby's body back to Los Angeles, where it will probably arrive Monday.
She said her husband will probably be buried in the family plot at a Los Angeles cemetery with his mother, father and first wife.
"I know he died the way he would have wanted to," 19-year-old Harry Crosby told reporters.
Crosby, an avid golfer, suffered a fatal heart attack Friday after finishing a golf game on a course near Madrid. He was 73.
To the world he may have been famous, Harry Crosby said, "but to me he was just my father, a wonderful father."
Crosby was remembered and admired by two generations for his easygoing style on stage and screen.
Spanish medical authorities performed an autopsy yesterday and confirmed that the singer had died of a massive heart attack, U.S. consular officials said.
In San Mateo, Calif., Crosby's personal physician said there was no inkling of heart trouble when the singer left on his trip to Europe.
"His last major physical was six months ago and at that time every part of his body was check and re-checked. He was in good condition," Dr. Stanley Hanfling said. "He had minor problems, but nothing to do with his heart. He had never complained of chest pains nor experienced any circulation problems."
Spanish officials said regulations probably would delay the entertainers last trip home until tomorrow. His son was to accompany the body on a commercial flight.
The funeral will be held Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Spaniards, like most other followers of the crooner's career, were numbed by the news of his death. Government television ran several old Crosby movies with comedian Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, and newspapers praised him for his devotion to family life as well as for his singing.
In London a mass was scheduled this morning in memory of Crosby at Westminster Cathedral. A Roman Catholic, Crosby had attended services there last Sunday.
Obituaries from London to Tokyo proved the wide international popularity of the singer-actor. In Paris the newspaper Figaro said: "We have lost the singer who was probably the most popular in the world until the end of the 50s."
The French press carried detailed accounts of his career, emphasizing his honest climb from rags to riches and the worldwide success of such favorite songs as White Christmas.
France Soir spoke of "Crosby's exemplary lifestyle in the Hollywood whirlwind." Even the Communist party newspaper l'Humanite praised the millionaire singer for putting in a "16-hour day trying to perfect all the facets of his profession."
The London Daily Telegraph commented, "If breadth of appeal is the measure, Bing Crosby can hardly escape the title of the most popular entertainer in this century. For more than 45 years he was the biggest single draw in show business, the nonpareil of casual charmers."
LOS ANGELES (AP 10/18/77) -- Bing Crosby's relatives and friends gathered in the predawn chill today for funeral services in the manner he wanted -- simple and private.
About 35 persons crowded into the tiny chapel of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in suburban Westwood, where the singer worshiped when he lived in nearby Holmby Hills.
Crosby's body lay in an open oak casket which was adorned by a single spray of red roses.
Mourners heard the Rev. Ellwood Kieser intone the ancient ritual.
The early hour (6 a.m. Los Angeles time) eliminated what Crosby did not want -- a clamorous Hollywood funeral. There were no fans on the quiet side street south of the U.C.L.A. campus.
Mrs. Kathryn Grant Crosby entered the chapel briskly 20 minutes before the rites, followed by her children -- Harry, 19, Nathaniel, 15, Mary Frances, 17. Her face was steeled against sorrow.
Before the Mass of the Resurrection was said, an organ softly played melodies associated with Crosby's 50-year career, including "The Bells of St. Mary's," "Galway Bay," "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral, That's an Irish Lullaby," "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" and "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie," which he often sang in duet with his wife.
Father Kieser told mourners that Bing could laugh because he knew how to cry, and "he knew how to cry because he believed so full in the Lord."
After the mass, Mrs. Crosby left the chapel, followed in single file by Crosby's seven children. Other mourners followed and a motorcade proceeded to the graveside.
The mourners included a few of Crosby's companions from show business -- Bob Hope and his wife, Mrs. Dolores Hope; Rosemary Clooney, who sang with Bing in his final concerts, and her son by Jose Ferrer, Miguel; Phil Harris, comedian, and Bob Crosby, Bing's singer-brother.
The rest were Crosby's business associates, fishing companions and personal friends, including his secretary, Ms. Nancy Briggs; Richard Bergen, his attorney; Basil Grillo, producer; Buster Collier, former actor, and Alan Fisher, his butler. Crosby's sister, Mrs. Mary Rose Pool, and Mrs. Crosby's sister, Mrs. Frances Meyer, also were present.
Crosby's six sons, including Gary, Dennis, Phillip, and Lindsay, acted as pallbearers.
Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery near the graves of Crosby's parents and first wife, Mrs. Dixie Lee Crosby, who died of cancer in 1952. The grave is on a hillside overlooking the graves of other family members, about 150 yards inside the cemetery's entrance.
