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Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Come Fill the Cup (1952) and Teacher's Pet (1959), finally winning that award for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). In 1978, Young murdered his 31-year old wife three weeks after their wedding before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide at the age of 64. Early life Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St. Cloud, Minnesota, he and his older siblings were raised by his parents, John and Emma Barr, in Washington, D.C., where his father was a reformatory chef. He attended McKinley High School, where he developed his first love of acting appearing in school plays. Career Theatre After graduating from high school he worked as a used car salesman and studied acting at night. He moved to Hollywood when a friend offered him a ride if he would pay for half the gas. After some amateur experience he applied for and received a scholarship to the acclaimed Pasadena Playhouse. "I had two jobs to support me, never rested, but it was great training and when I landed the part at Warner Bros., I was ready for it", he said. Barr made early appearances in Misbehaving Husbands (1940), credited as "Byron Barr", and in the short Here Comes the Cavalry (1941). While acting in Pancho, a south-of-the-border play by Lowell Barrington, he and the leading actor in the play, George Reeves, were spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout. Both actors were signed to supporting player contracts with the studio. Warner Bros. as Byron Barr His early work was uncredited or as Byron Barr (not to be confused with another actor with the same name, Byron Barr) or Byron Fleming. It included appearances in Sergeant York (1941), Dive Bomber (1941), Navy Blues (1941), and One Foot in Heaven (1941). Barr had a bigger part in a short, The Tanks Are Coming (1941) which was nominated for an Oscar. He was also in They Died with Their Boots On (1941) and You're in the Army Now (1941). He had an uncredited bit part in the 1942 Bette Davis film The Man Who Came to Dinner, saying, in his distinctive voice, "How's the ice?." He was also in Captains of the Clouds (1942), and The Male Animal (1942). Warners loaned him to Fox for The Mad Martindales (1942). The Gay Sisters and becoming Gig Young In 1942, six months into his Warner Brothers contract, he was given his first notable role in the feature film The Gay Sisters as a character named "Gig Young". Preview cards praised the actor "Gig Young" and the studio determined that "Gig Young" should become Barr's stage and professional name. About the name change, Young later admitted to having "some hesitancy... but I weighed the disadvantages against the advantages of having it stick indelibly in the mind of audiences. There'd be no confusion with some other actor called Gig." His parts began to get better: a co-pilot in Howard Hawks's Air Force (1943); and Bette Davis' love interest in Old Acquaintance (1943). Young took a hiatus from his movie career and enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1941 where he served as a pharmacist's mate until the end of World War II, serving in a combat zone in the Pacific. On Young's return from the war, he was cast as Errol Flynn's rival for Eleanor Parker in Escape Me Never (1947). The film was directed by Peter Godfrey who also helmed Young and Parker in The Woman in White (1948), after which he left Warners, unhappy with his salary. Post-Warner Bros. Young began freelancing at various studios, eventually obtaining a contract with Columbia Pictures before returning to freelancing. He came to be regarded as a popular and likable second lead, playing the brothers or friends of the principal characters. In a 1966 interview he said, "Whenever you play a second lead and lose the girl, you have to make your part interesting yet not compete with the leading man. There are few great second leads in this business. It's easier to play a lead – you can do whatever you want. If I'm good it always means the leading man has been generous." Young was Porthos in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's successful The Three Musketeers (1948). Then he supported John Wayne in Wake of the Red Witch (1948) at Republic Pictures and Glenn Ford in Columbia's Lust for Gold (1949). Also at Columbia, he supported Rosalind Russell and Robert Cummings in Tell It to the Judge (1949). Young had his first lead in a feature film at RKO in Hunt the Man Down (1951), a film noir. He went back to support roles for Target Unknown (1951) a war film at Universal; and Only the Valiant (1951), a Gregory Peck western. Young began to appear in TV on shows such as The Silver Theatre, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Bigelow Theatre. Come Fill the Cup and first Oscar nomination Young received critical acclaim for his dramatic work as an alcoholic in the 1951 film Come Fill the Cup with James Cagney, back at Warner Brothers. He was nominated for both an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Young later gave Cagney a great deal of the credit for his performance. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Young supported Van Johnson in the MGM comedy Too Young to Kiss (1952). The studio liked Young so much that he was signed to a term contract. After supporting Peter Lawford in You for Me (1952), Young was promoted by MGM to leading man for Holiday for Sinners (1952). The film was a box office failure, however. More popular was The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) where Young lost Elizabeth Taylor to Fernando Lamas. MGM loaned Young to Republic Pictures for City That Never Sleeps (1953), where he had the starring role as a disillusioned cop. In 2008, Martin Scorsese selected this film to open a Republic Pictures retrospective that he curated at New York's Museum of Modern Art, citing the movie's amazing energy and creativity. Back at MGM, Young had the lead in a 3-D Western, Arena (1953), which was a hit. He was a second male lead again – to Michael Wilding – in the Joan Crawford vehicle Torch Song (1953). Then he left MGM. "I played terrible parts there", he later said. He decided to relocate to New York. Broadway Young said he rarely performed in comedies, until he appeared on Broadway in Oh Men! Oh Women! (1953–54) which ran for 382 performances. Young recalled, "It was a big smash hit but never helped change my type in Hollywood for quite some time. I still played dull, serious parts like Errol Flynn's brother. Yet on Broadway, they offered me nothing but comedies." During this time Young appeared on TV shows shot in New York such as Robert Montgomery Presents, Schlitz Playhouse, Producers' Showcase and Lux Video Theatre. Return to Warner Bros. When Oh Men! Oh, Women ended its run, Young went back to Warner Bros where he lost Doris Day to Frank Sinatra in Young at Heart (1955). In 1955, Young became the host of Warner Bros. Presents, an umbrella title for three television mini.... Discover the Ronald E Barr popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ronald E Barr books.