Do you remember actor Gig Young?

Gig Young was a gifted actor but was ultimately relegated to supporting roles in most of his movies. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "They Shoot Horses Don't They?". He increasingly had a problem with alcoholism and he and his career began to spiral down. In a tragic and bizarre Hollywood ending he shot and killed his fifth wife and then put the gun in his mouth and killed himself - murder/suicide. He was 64 years old when he died, a sad demise for a talented but troubled man.

The above book, having read it, is an excellent account of Gig Young's life and I highly recommend it.

An excellent photo of Gig Young back in the day.

I remember Gig Young very well. His murder/suicide was a real horror show.

Young was never a huge star but he worked steadily. He'd finish one film and move immediately onto another well paying short term job.

From this we get the Gig Economy.

Gig Young with his third wife, Elizabeth Montgomery of "Bewitched" fame.

Elizabeth Montgomery back in the 60’s was a cold fish .

R6 She divorced Gig because of his alcoholism.

And she dropped all her friends from her circle with no explanation. She hurt people .

Mel Brooks fired him from Blazing Saddles after one day of filming because he was drunk and then cast Gene Wilder as The Waco Kid. Young was too drunk to read Charlie’s lines in Charlie’s Angels, so Aaron Spelling replaced him with John Forsythe.

[quote] Gig Young was a gifted actor

I can't agree. He had a face which seemed devoid of thought.

He may have been useful in a supporting role. As a butler, perhaps.

Gig was engaged to Elaine Stritch.

^ Guess who wore the pants in that household.

I remember seeing him in a scary movie, The Shuttered Room, and despite it being very low budget, it was so creepy and scary that I had to get up and turn all the lights on.

I well remember him from my youth. He always seemed perpetually drunk but able to get through life. I had an uncle like that he would make a big ice tea glass cocktail around 11am and nurse it for many hours throughout the day until he fell asleep.

R10 Gig WAS a gifted actor. He was nominated for an Oscar a number of times and eventually won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Gig as guest panelist on What’s My Line. Gypsy Rose Lee with marbles in her mouth at 17:00

Well, I have to tell you, R15, that I was nominated seven times as the best garbageman in my district!

Gig Young and his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for They Shoot Horses Don't They. He was a force to be reckoned with at one time.

I liked Joan Crawford’s retort about Gig, in “Torch Song.” When asked by the driver where to drop him off, she quips, “Any dark bar.”

I don't remember him but I do know who he is. We never met.

He deserved that Oscar. TSHDT was a terrific movie

Five wives and only one child. I guess he was too busy making movies...........

His daughter Jennifer many years later holding Gig's Oscar.

He seemed unsure of himself in winning, but it was well-earned.

His performance in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is one of the best I've ever seen. He really deserved his Oscar for that. He was perfect in that.

He was also perfect in "Walking Distance", one of the best episodes of "The Twilight Zone."

I have always been aware of him, but he never made much of an impression on me. I get him confused with Bob Cummings sometimes.

It’s sad his demons fueled by alcohol abuse did him in . He seemed like a good guy

[quote] Do you remember actor Gig Young?

Yes, he was a poor-man's version of Cary Grant— without the looks or the charm or the good roles.

Two things always come to mind when I come across his name:

1)My late mother had a HUGE crush on Gig. (Her only other crush, AFAIK, was Tom Mix, lollollol)

2) "No gap; there's no gap here!" Which his youth-obsessed character in [italic]Lovers and Other Strangers[/italic](one of my favorite films) kept exclaiming.

His [italic]Twilight Zone[/italic] episode was sad and boring.

Wasn’t he with Suzanne Pleshette at some point?

[quote] His Twilight Zone episode was sad and boring.

Uh, no. It's considered one of the greatest Twilight Zone episodes. I guess you just don't "get it."

I only remember him from his florid death, and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They.

He wasn’t really a top tier star.

R9

Gig Young was fired from Blazing Saddles because he passed out first day of filming due to alcohol withdrawal.

At time of murdering his wife and committing suicide Gig Young was under care of so called psychologist and psychotherapist Eugene Landy. A very nasty bit of work ...

He was funny as hell triggering the heck out of Clark Gable as Doris Day’s all too perfect all interest in Teacher’s Pet.

I've read about Gig Young, in biographies about other Hollywood Stars. His downfall was slow and sad. I've also read about Eugene Landy, too. Evil, evil, evil is what EL, was. His "brand" of therapy was predatory and he was nuts.

R32, I'm with you. "Walking Distance" is so beautiful and elegiac. Rod Serling's closing monologue alone is worth the price of admission. All the performances are strong and convincing--Gig Young's most definitely included, the cinematography is stunning (those carousel horses!) and Bernard Herrmann's score is a masterpiece. Sorry, R30!

Just to chime in to agree that his performances in THEY SHOOT HORSES is unbelievably great. He plays a pretty sordid character and he makes the figure understandable if not sympathetic. It's a brave performance.

R2- In your photo he looks like someone who might

SUCK COCK

He had a face which seemed devoid of thought.

[quote] He may have been useful in a supporting role. As a butler, perhaps.

Yes, devoid of personality, Nondescript.

Should have starred in 'Remains of the Day'

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