October 19, 1978: Actor Gig Young shoots his wife of 3 weeks, Kim Schmidt, in their Manhattan apartment. Then he kills himself. He was 64, she was 31.
A motive for the murder-suicide was never made clear. But Young was a heavy drinker, and was under the care of the psychotherapist Eugene Landy, who would later have his professional California medical license revoked amidst accusations of ethical violations and patient misconduct, including his mistreatment of Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson.
He was born Byron Ellsworth Barr on November 4, 1913 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and grew up in Washington, D.C. He had a few bit parts in films in the 1940s, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 1952 James Cagney film Come Fill the Cup.
He preferred not to do comedies. That changed with his successful role in the Broadway comedy Oh Men! Oh Women! in 1953 and '54: While the movies still wanted him to do dramas, Broadway and television wanted him to do comedies.
He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor again in 1958, in the Clark Gable and Doris Day comedy Teacher's Pet. He was the promoter for Elvis Presley's boxing character in Kid Galahad. He starred on the 1964-65 NBC sitcom The Rogues, and won an Academy Award for Best Actor as the dance marathon master of ceremonies in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
That character was an alcoholic. For a few years by that point, so was Young. His career went into decline. His drinking cost him the role of The Waco Kid (ironically, an alcoholic) in Blazing Saddles, a role that went to Gene Wilder. He appeared in Game of Death, which was left unfinished until 1978 due to the 1973 death of its star, Bruce Lee. It turned out to be Young's last film as well.
He married 5 times. His 3rd wife was Elizabeth Montgomery, but they divorced before she became the star of the sitcom Bewitched. He and Kim Schmidt had been married for 22 days at the time of their deaths.
In 1955, Young went to the set of the film Giant, and filmed a public service announcement with James Dean. The subject was safe driving. Dean said, "Drive careful, you know? The life you save might be mine!" And right after that, he died in a car crash. With considerably less mystery than Gig had when he died.
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October 19, 1978 was a Thursday. Baseball season had ended 2 days before, when the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series in 6 games. Football was in midweek.
There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz beat the Boston Celtics, 120-115 at the Superdome in New Orleans. And the Kansas City Kings beat the Houston Rockets, 108-103 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at the Chicago Stadium.
There were no games played in the World Hockey Association.
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