Dixie Lee

Biography

Dixie Lee was an American Actress, Dancer & Singer. Dixie Lee was the wife of popular singer Bing Crosby, and the mother of Crosby brothers.

She is known for her singing, radio career and movies such as Redheads on Parade(1935), Love in Bloom (1935), Manhattan Love Song (1934)

Childhood- Family

Dixie Lee was born as Wilma Winifred Wyatt on 4th November 1909 in Harriman, Tennessee, United States to Evan Wyatt(Father) & Nora Scarborough(Mother).

Education

• Senn High School: She attended the public high school located in the Edgewater, North of Chicago, Illinois. writer Sidney Sheldon, NFL player Cliff Aberson, actor Donald Briggs are some of the notable alumni of the school

Marriage

Bing Crosby

Dixie met fellow singer and actor Bing Crosby when she was 18 years old, they married on 19th September of 1930 at the Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood.

Brief Separation: The couple separated after six months of their marriage in March 1931, Dixie stated that two different personalities could not live together, they had decided to remain just friends. Of this, she had stated:

We have only been married about six months, but we have already found out that we are not suited for each other. Our separation is an amiable one, and the only reason for it is that we just cannot get along. 'Bing' is a fine boy as a friend, but married he and I just cannot be happy. [1]

However within the next couple of weeks their stand had softened, Dixie confided in her friends that she wasn't angry at Bing as much as she was missing him. Bing flew in within hours after getting to know about this and the couple reunited.

The couple were troubled by alcohol in 1940s, they contemplated divorce for a while but gave up on it.

An accident: In January 1945, she was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital for what seemed to be a respiratory infection. Her husband Bing Crosby accompanied her in the ambulance and stood by her for the whole time. It was later suggested that she had had an accidental overdose of sleeping tablets. [2]

Children

The couple had fours sons- 

• Gary Crosby (born in 1933)
• Dennis Crosby (born in 1934)
• Phillip Crosby (born in 1934)
• Lindsay Crosby (born in 1938)

Image: Dixie Lee, Husband Bing Crosby & Sons (Gary, Dennis, Philip, Lindsay)

Gary Evan Crosby, the oldest of the siblings, became an actor and a singer, he wrote a memoir of his childhood- "Going My Own Way" in 1983.  He died of of lung cancer in Burbank, California in 1995. He has an adopted son named Steven.

Phillip and Dennis were born twins. Phillip Lang Crosby was an actor and singer, he is known for albums "The Crosby Brothers",  "A Crosby Christmas". He married four times and had 2 daughters and three sons. He died of heart attack in 2004, at the age of 69

Dennis Michael Crosby was a singer, he married twice and had 7 children. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1991, aged 56.

Lindsay Harry Crosby was also an actor and singer, like his older brothers. He was married thrice and had five children. He died of self-inflicted gun wound in 1989.

Denise Crosby (Daughter of Dennis Crosby) is an actress and a model known for her portrayal of Security Chief Tasha Yar in "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

Death

Dixie Lee died on 1st November 1952 in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States from Ovarian cancer. Her remains are kept at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. She was just 3 days shy of 43 at the time of her death.

Abdominal surgery: She had undergone a surgery just a few days before her death by cancer.

Facts & Trivia

• Dixie Carroll: She entered an amateur singing contest in Chicago in 1928, it is here that she first used the stage name "Dixie Carroll". She won the contest and the prize was a paid job at a roadhouse named "College Inn". While at her job at "College Inn", she was eventually spotted by a talent scout from the traveling company named "Good News". 
• Name Change: She changed her name for the second time (from Dixie Carroll) to Dixie Lee for the sake of the movie, so that her name won't be confused with actresses like Nancy Carroll & Sue Carol. It was the studio that gave her the name "Dixie Lee", it was one if the chracters from the Edna Ferber novel Cimarron (which was made into a movie 2 years later). [2]
• She had become quite popular even in her younger years, at the time of her marriage, she was more popular than Bing Crosby who became a very popular singer eventually. Funnily, at the time of her marriage, Associated Press, had reported that she was marrying Mr. "Murray Crosey". [1]
• Shell Chateau: She worked briefly in a musical radio program aired on NBC
• Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman: A 1947 Hollywood drama was partly inspired by the life of Dixie Lee; Susan Hayward played the lead role of a nightclub singer.
• Bing Crosby - A Pocketful of Dreams: In the biography of Bing Cosby by Gary Giddins, Dixie is portrayed as a shy, private & sensible person. Their alcohol addiction was blamed with the fights between the couple.
• Hollywood's Ideal Mother: in 1946, she was named "Hollywood's Ideal Mother" by the Advisory Committee of the United Home Finding Service.
• Depression & Alcohol: She was suffering from long time depression, she had sought company of alcohol which is said to have lead to family clashes.

Tennessee State Historical Marker (1F 46)

In November 2019, the Tennessee Historical Commission and the City of Harriman, Tennessee, unveiled a Tennessee State Historical Marker (1F 46) in honor of Dixie Lee, near her birth place.

Career

Singing

• You've Got Me Doing Things: A song she had recorded in 1935, it was used in the movie 'Love in Bloom'
• My Heart Is an Open Book: Her second recording
• Until the Real Thing Comes Along
• When a Lady Meets a Gentleman Down South
• A Fine Romance (1936)
• The Way You Look Tonight (1936)

She recorded and released songs "The Way You Look Tonight" and "A Fine Romance" with her husband Bing Crosby.

Filmography

Movies

Quotes

• Someday I am coming back to the beautiful hills and streams of Tennessee, which will always be home to me. [2]

Sources

1. Dixie Lee on wikipedia
2. Imdb bio
3.