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
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
U.S. 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 Young 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
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. 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) in which 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 was the lead in the 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). Promptly after completing both films, on June 22, 1953, the trade magazine
Hollywood Reporter told its readers that MGM had just assigned Gig Young to the fourth leading role in their film
Gypsy Colt. Likely noticing that his roles were now moving in the wrong direction, 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." He played a supporting role the same year in the Humphrey Bogart thriller
The Desperate Hours and lost
Katharine Hepburn to
Spencer Tracy in
Desk Set (1957). He continued to appear on TV in such shows as
The United States Steel Hour,
Climax!,
Goodyear Theatre, and
Studio One in Hollywood (the latter starring
Elizabeth Montgomery, whom he married in 1956). Young is remembered by many
James Dean fans for the "driving safety" interview made shortly before Dean's fatal car accident in September 1955. Dean wears a cowboy outfit as he was taking a break from shooting the 1956 film
Giant while playing with a lasso and counseling the audience to drive carefully.
''Teacher's Pet'' and second Oscar nomination George Seaton saw Young on Broadway and cast him as a tipsy but ultimately charming intellectual in ''
Teacher's Pet (1958), starring Clark Gable and Doris Day. It earned Young a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Young was promptly reunited with Day in an MGM comedy, The Tunnel of Love (1958), though still the second male lead – after Richard Widmark. Also at MGM, he appeared with Shirley MacLaine and David Niven in Ask Any Girl (1959). Young had a change of pace in a Clifford Odets drama starring Rita Hayworth, The Story on Page One'' (1959), although he was still the second male lead, to
Anthony Franciosa. On TV he appeared in a 1959 Twilight Zone episode titled "
Walking Distance". He had some parts – all male leads – in TV adaptations of
The Philadelphia Story (1959),
The Prince and the Pauper,
Ninotchka (1960), and
The Spiral Staircase (1961). He guest-starred on
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and
Kraft Suspense Theatre. Young returned to Broadway with
Under the Yum-Yum Tree (1960–61), which ran for 173 performances, originating the role later played by
Jack Lemmon on film. Some announced film projects fell through, so he instead played second lead in another movie with Day,
That Touch of Mink (1962), as
Cary Grant's best friend. The charming con man he played on that show was one of Young's favorite roles, and it raised his profile with the television viewing public. He later said, "I loved it, the public loved it, only NBC didn't love it." He supported
Rock Hudson in the comedy
Strange Bedfellows (1965), had the lead in a British horror film
The Shuttered Room (1967), and starred in a TV mystery movie
Companions in Nightmare (1968). He enjoyed a successful return to Broadway in the hit comedy from Britain ''
There's a Girl in My Soup'' (1967–68), which ran for 322 performances.
''They Shoot Horses Don't They?'' Young won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rocky, the alcoholic
dance marathon emcee and promoter in the 1969 film ''
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' Young had not been the choice of director
Sydney Pollack, but his casting was mandated by the head of ABC Pictures,
Marty Baum, Young's former agent. According to his fourth wife, Elaine Williams, "What he was aching for, as he walked up to collect his Oscar, was a role in his own movie—one that they could finally call 'a Gig Young movie.' For Gig, the Oscar was literally the kiss of death, the end of the line." Young himself had said to
Louella Parsons after failing to win in 1951, "so many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards." Young had a good part in the popular
Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), also from ABC Pictures, and toured in
Nobody Loves an Albatross (1970) in summer stock. He was in the TV movie
The Neon Ceiling (1971), his performance earning him an
Emmy nomination. A profile of Young around this time said, "The well-established image of the boozy charmer Gig plays on and off camera fools you. That armour surrounds an intense dedicated artist, constantly involved with his profession."
Career decline Young's worsening alcoholism began to cost him roles. Originally cast as The Waco Kid, Young collapsed on the set of the comedy film
Blazing Saddles during his first day of shooting due to
alcohol withdrawal and was fired by director
Mel Brooks. Brooks replaced him with
Gene Wilder. He was also replaced as the lead of the Disney comedy
Superdad. Young had a supporting role in
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), directed by
Sam Peckinpah, and was in a horror movie,
A Black Ribbon for Deborah (1974). He was in the TV movies
The Great Ice Rip-Off (1974) and
The Turning Point of Jim Malloy (1975); Peckinpah used him again in
The Killer Elite (1975). In 1976,
Aaron Spelling cast Young as the offscreen Charlie in his new action show ''
Charlie's Angels''. However, Young's alcoholism prevented him from performing the role, even only as a voice actor, and he was replaced at the last minute by
John Forsythe. Young was one of several names to star in
The Hindenburg (1975). He guest-starred on
McCloud, had supporting roles in
Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) and
Spectre (1977), and was a semi-regular on the TV series
Gibbsville (1976–77), a spinoff from the TV movie
The Turning Point of Jim Malloy. His last role was in the 1978 revised version of
Game of Death, which was released nearly six years after the film's original star
Bruce Lee died during production in 1973. ==Personal life==