Audrey Young (October 30, 1922 – June 1, 2012) was an American film actress and a

big-band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

singer who was most active in the 1940s. She was the wife of director

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hol ...

Early years

Young was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Her father, Stratton Young, built sets for films.

Career

Young was a contract actor with Paramount Pictures in the 1940s, appearing in approximately 20 films from 1944 to 1949. Her film debut came in ''

Lady in the Dark ''Lady in the Dark'' is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fictional fashion magazine ...

'' (1944). 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''. Most of her roles were small and uncredited, with only a few exceptions like '' Danger Street'' and ''

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap ''The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap'' is a 1947 black-and-white comedy Western film directed by Charles Barton and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It was released on October 8 and distributed by Universal-International. Plot Che ...

''. Her final film appearance was in '' Love in the Afternoon'' (1957) in an uncredited role as the opera date of

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

'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." She also sang in vaudeville. Young worked as a costume consultant on two films, ''

The Apartment ''The Apartment'' is a 1960 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. It stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Dav ...

'' and '' Some Like It Hot'', both directed by her husband.

Personal life

On June 30, 1949, Young married director

in Linden, Nevada. 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. They had no children, but she was stepmother to Wilder's child from an earlier marriage. After Wilder's death, Young donated $5 million to the Hammer Museum at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

to create the Billy Wilder Theater.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Audrey 1922 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American actresses American film actresses Actresses from Los Angeles 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women