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 Holl ...

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 largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 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 (film), Lady in the Dark'' (1944). She had sung with Tommy Dorsey, 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 (1946 film), Blue Skies''. Most of her roles were small and uncredited, with only a few exceptions like ''Danger Street (1947 film), Danger Street'' and ''The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap''. Her final film appearance was in ''Love in the Afternoon (1957 film), Love in the Afternoon'' (1957) in an uncredited role as the opera date of Gary Cooper'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 (magazine), 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'' 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 (film), 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 University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA to create the Billy Wilder Theater. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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