The account presented here is based largely on what Kathryn reports in her 3 books and several articles dealing with her courtship of Bing. Be aware that she gives conflicting details of some of the events in these different sources and her timelines don't always seem to sync. This is partly why I also suspect that her report of Bing's 1954 affair with Grace Kelly was actually a hybridization of his 1957 affair with Inger Stevens.
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| August 13 | Kathryn Grandstaff is signed to a Paramount movie contract. Later she assumes the stage name of Kathryn Grant. |
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| Feb. 23 | Nearly 4 months after the death of his first wife from cancer, 49-year-old Bing Crosby meets 19-year-old Kathryn Grant for the first time. She casually strolls past his Paramount dressing room while he is standing in the doorway with his gag writer, Barney Dean. Bing calls out "Howdy, Tex. What’s your rush?" Obviously Bing has done some homework on the starlet. Bing invites her into his dressing room for a chat. Kathy notices the photos on the wall and asks Bing if he plays a lot of golf. |
| unknown | Kathryn auditions for the role of the General's granddaughter in "White Christmas." She says she was told she was not right for the part because she was too sexy. |
| late summer | Filming begins on "White Christmas." Kathryn attends filming sessions at the invitation of Bing. Describing one of these occasions Kathryn says, "I felt a slight pressure on the back of my knees. It was a chair, and the man holding the chair was Bing Crosby. I had met him on the lot a few weeks before, but I had no idea that he would remember a few minutes of banter over a cup of tea. Not only did he bring me a chair, but he met my friends and was very polite to them. I was delighted."
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| October | Kathryn drops by Bing's dressing room to interview him for her weekly newspaper column, "Texas Girl in Hollywood." Bing is dressed in a soldier's uniform for his role in "White Christmas." He invites her to tea. |
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| Jan. 24 | Their first formal date. Bings takes Kathryn to dinner. Kathryn reported that on the drive home Bing "took my hand and sang, You’d Be So Easy to Love, and my toes went numb." |
| Feb 12 | Kathryn is stunned when she receives a letter from Paramount that her contract will not be renewed. Bing comes to the rescue and gets her a job with Ken Murray's TV show called "Where Were You?" Later in the year Columbia Pictures will sign Kathryn to a contract. |
| Feb 13 | 20-year-old Kathryn has dinner at Bing's home where she meets Lindsay, his 16-year-old son. |
| February-April | Bing films "The Country Girl" with Grace Kelly and William Holden. Kathryn reports that she visited the set of "The Country Girl" to interview Bing for her Texas newspaper column.
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| April 22 | Kathryn spends the weekend with Bing at his Thunderbird home near Palm Springs. |
| May | Grace Kelly writes her jealous boyfriend, fashion designer Oleg Cassini: "I told you he [Bing] said he was in love with me -- but there are many people that he feels that way about and after the emotional strain of playing Country Girl this was only natural." |
| Oct. 16 | Bing takes Kathryn Grant to a football game. Later at her apartment he starts to propose marriage, but she cuts him short, saying "I think maybe we should get to know each other a bit more."
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| Oct. 31 | Bing proposes to Kathryn at Palm Springs. He warns her that he does not expect to live much more than 10 years. She accepts anyway. Then they don't see each another for the next 2 months. |
| Dec. 23 | By phone Bing proposes to marry Kathryn on Feb. 7, 1955 in Carmel (Pebble Beach), California. |
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| Jan. 19 | Bing calls Kathryn and is angry she leaked that they were to be married. Kathryn replied, "It's not like we were planning to rob a bank." |
| Feb. 7 | Bing postpones the wedding in Carmel to May 13 while he recovers from surgery to remove a kidney stone. |
| Feb 14 | Valentine's Day. Kathryn dines with Bing at his home. |
| March 30 | Kathryn is Bing's date to the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Bing didn't win the Oscar for The Country Girl, but Grace Kelly did. Grace's date that evening was fashion designer Oleg Cassini. |
| May 13 | Second wedding date passes but no wedding. |
| May 14 | Bing suggests Sept. 10 wedding. |
| June 3 | After no word from Bing for 2 weeks Kathryn plays hardball, refusing his invitation to dinner. |
| June 16 | Kathryn spends the weekend with Bing in San Francisco. |
| July 13 | Bing denies reports he plans to marry Kathryn. |
| Sept. 8 | Bing and Kathryn are at Hayden Lake, Idaho, preparing to be married. Something upsets Kathryn and she cancels the wedding, saying she's not mature enough to marry. |
| Oct. 15 | Kathryn visits Bing at Pebble Beach where he apologizes to her for an affair with another woman, who he said threatened suicide when he broke off the relationship. |
| Dec. 17 | Bing is best man at Bill Morrow's wedding at Bing's Palm Springs home. Kathryn attends. |
| Dec. 31 | Bing attends a New Year's eve party with Kathryn. On their way home Bing proposes to marry Kathryn on March 17, 1956. |
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| Jan. 5 | Grace Kelly announces her engagement to Prince Rainier III at her family home in Philadelphia.
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| March 17 | Another wedding canceled as Bing recovers from eye surgery. |
| June | Kathryn converts to Catholicism. |
| July 20 | Kathryn introduces Bing to her parents. |
| September | Bing obtains his baptismal certificate from the Church. Rumors are flying that Bing and Kathryn are about to be married. Reporters swarm Spokane and nearby Hayden Lake, Idaho, where Bing and Kathryn are staying. Bing gets cold feet and postpones the wedding. "It's as if Bing were waiting for the right moment to tell his wife about me," Kathryn lamented in her biography. Kathryn flies home early in disappointment. |
| Sept. 21 | Kathryn returns home and reports that she has decided to end her affair with Bing. |
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| Jan. 13 | Bing and Kathryn meet for tea. She again refuses an invitation to dine with Bing. Later that week Bing writes her saying that he will return her birth and baptismal certificates. He concludes with "I will always love you." Bing and Kathryn do not see each other for 9 months. Meanwhile, Bing pursues his costar in "Man on Fire," 22-year-old Inger Stevens. |
| July | Kathryn leaves for Spain to film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. |
| Oct. 2 | Kathryn returns to the U.S. and receives a letter from Bing asking to see her. She tells Bing she doesn't wish to see him. |
| Oct. 8 | Bing writes her again, begging to see her. She does not reply. |
| Oct. 13 | Bing writes Kathryn: "I know I am a louse, but you could be a friend and answer my last letter." |
| Oct. 22 | After vain attempts to get Kathryn to speak to him, in desperation Bing writes to Kathryn that he wants to marry her "anytime, anyplace." |
| Oct. 23 | Kathryn succumbs, but she instructs her aunt to negotiate the details of the "anytime, anyplace" with Bing. |
| Oct. 24 | Bing and Kathryn meet for the first time in 9 months in Las Vegas. They drive to the Las Vegas courthouse for a marriage license and then to St. Anne’s Church where the Long and Winding Road finally reaches its destination. After saying their vows they leave for their honeymoon at Bing's new Silver Spur Ranch home near Palm Springs. |
