Linda Douglas

Linda Douglas (born Mary Joanne Tarola; February 27, 1928May 2017) was an American model and actress. A native of Portland, Oregon, she began modeling and appearing in beauty contests as a teenager, and was named as a Princess to the Portland Rose Festival representing Grant High in 1947. She was discovered by a talent scout of Howard Hughes while sitting in a hotel lobby in Phoenix and eventually embarked on an acting career in 1952. Under the stage name Linda Douglas, she starred in two Westerns: Trail Guide and Target (both 1952), followed by the drama Affair with a Stranger (1953), in which she was billed under her birth name. Douglas garnered publicity when she married film producer and mobster Pat DiCicco, former husband of Thelma Todd and Gloria Vanderbilt, in 1952. The couple divorced in 1960 after eight years of marriage. Douglas subsequently married Major League Baseball player Hank Greenberg in 1966, after which she went by the name Mary Jo Greenberg. She remained married to him until his death in 1986. She died in Los Angeles in 2017. Biography 1928–1950: Early life Douglas was born Mary Joanne Tarola in Portland, Oregon to Mildred (née Andeerson) and Joseph Tarola. Her mother was a native of Alaska, born to Swedish immigrants, while her father was an immigrant from Italy. She had two older brothers, Hoyt and Ralph, and considered herself "a bit of a tomboy." Tall and blonde, Douglas was noticed at age 17 by a talent agent of Howard Hughes while sitting in a hotel lobby in Phoenix. She had been in Arizona at the time visiting her mother, who after divorcing Douglas' father relocated there for the drier climate in an effort to reduce symptoms of arthritis.