But the couple remained together until Bing's death twenty years later, and along the way had three children — two boys and a girl. A new family meant that Bing had an opportunity for what a golf nut like him might have called a Mulligan (for non-golfers, that's a 'do-over') and he was determined to do a better job with his second chance. It's generally believed that he succeeded.
Even though the fireworks in the Crosby family (the first one) were never a secret, it wasn't until several years after Bing's death that Gary's book, Going My Own Way, exposed many of the ugly details. Although one of the twins, Phillip, defended Bing's reputation, both Dennis and Lindsay pretty much agreed with what Gary had
to say. (Both also committed suicide a few years later, adding more layers of complexity to the whole saga.)
The four boys led lives that had varying degrees of success and happiness, even with trust funds from their mother's estate helping out. All tried acting, but only Gary was able to sustain a long and semi-successful career, with many movie and TV supporting roles. He died from cancer in 1995. Philip proved to be the longest lived, dying of natural causes in 2004.
Ironically, in the period before his death, Gary was making plans to do an album of his Dad's songs with digital help from the deceased Bing — sort of like what Natalie Cole had done so successfully with Nat. It wasn't as far-fetched as it might sound. In 1950, Bing and 17-year-old Gary had gotten together and made a record, billing themselves as Gary Crosby and Friend. It consisted of a couple of novelty tunes - "Play a Simple Melody," and "Sam's Song" - and sold over a million copies, remaining on the pop charts for months.
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