Lynn Loring

Lynn Loring made an unlikely, but impressive, transition from child actress to actress to president of a major TV studio. At age 6, she appeared in CBS's anthology series Studio One in Hollywood (1948); at 7, she began doing TV commercials (and was dubbed "The Junior Set's Betty Furness"); and from 6 to 16, she played Patty on Search for Tomorrow (1951). As a young adult, she made guest appearances on Playhouse 90 (1956), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951), The Defenders (1961), and The Big Valley (1965), among other shows. Loring focused on domestic life until 1979, when she worked as the casting director for a TV movie, The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang (1979) ("Raid on Coffeyville"). She shifted into producing and, for several years, had an initially fruitful partnership with Aaron Spelling. In the late 1980s, she assumed the presidency of MGM/UA Television Productions. Loring, then only in her 40s, was one of the first women to hold such a high-ranking role in Hollywood.