Phillip Lang Crosby (July 13, 1934 – January 13, 2004) was an American actor and singer. He was one of four sons of Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee; the others were his older brother Gary, his twin brother Dennis, and his younger brother Lindsay. Phillip began his career singing alongside his three brothers and his father, Bing Crosby.

Biography

Crosby was married four times to:


Sandra Jo Drummond, a Las Vegas showgirl (1958–1963); two children, daughter Dixie Lee Crosby and son Brian Patrick Crosby (deceased).
Mary Joyce Gabbard, an airline stewardess (1964–1966); two children, daughter Mary Elizabeth Crosby and son Bing (known as 'Flip') Crosby.
Georgi Edwards, a former Las Vegas showgirl (1967–1969)
Peggy J. Compton, an actress (1972–1975); one son Phillip L. Crosby Jr., (a crooner in a musical quartet, which revitalizes some of Bing's old songs).
In his later years, Phillip's health was not good and he had problems with his back and knees following a motor cycle accident. In the 1980s, he was arrested several times for drunk driving and, despite 18 months of Alcoholics Anonymous, he told People magazine, "I don't drink anymore -- but I don't drink any less."

Despite a promising start to life, the Crosby brothers were clearly overwhelmed by their emotional problems, which resulted in heavy drinking. Their mother died from ovarian cancer in 1952 but her health was not helped by acute alcoholism. Phillip's twin Dennis and his younger brother Lindsay committed suicide with shotguns, in their 50s. Gary died from lung cancer in August 1995, aged 62. Gary Crosby wrote a book called Going My Own Way alleging emotional and physical abuse by his father. Phillip did not accept this and he gave an interview to Neil Blincow of The Globe in 1999 stating:

"My dad was not the monster my lying brother said he was, He was strict, but my father never beat us black and blue and my brother Gary was a vicious, no-good liar for saying so. I have nothing but fond memories of dad, going to studios with him, family vacations at our cabin in Idaho, boating and fishing with him. . . He [Gary] knew it [the book Going My Own Way] would generate a lot of publicity and that was the only way he could get his ugly, no-talent face on television and in the newspapers. He wrote it out of greed. He wanted to make money and knew that humiliating our father and blackening his name was the only way he could do it. My dad took care of us from a very early age with a trust fund. But we blew it all. To my dying day, I’ll hate Gary for dragging Dad’s name through the mud. My dad was my hero. I loved him very much. And he loved all of us too, including Gary. He was a great father.