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, 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 while her father was an immigrant from Italy. She had two older brothers, Hoyt and Ralph, Douglas worked as beauty contestant and model in Portland, and was named queen of the Portland Rose Festival in 1947.

1951–2016: Film career and marriages Returning to Los Angeles, she made her feature film debut in the Western Trail Guide, followed by Target (both 1952), under the stage name Linda Douglas. Douglas married film producer Pat DiCicco, former husband of Thelma Todd and Gloria Vanderbilt, in Beverly Hills, California.

In the early 1960s, Douglas began dating Major League Baseball player Hank Greenberg. She had first met Greenberg briefly in 1955 while visiting New York City to attend the World Series with her then-husband, DiCicco: "We were the guests of Dan Topping, the then the co-owner of the Yankees... As we were getting into our limousines in front of the Park Lane Hotel, Pat took me aside to introduce me to Hank Greenberg." Douglas recalled that, after the meeting, she observed DiCicco, Topping, and others in their limousine making anti-semitic remarks: "It was my first experience with antisemitism. It left an impression." Douglas and Greenberg's romance received significant publicity, and the two were married in a small ceremony in Virginia in late November 1966, after which Douglas went by the name Mary Jo Greenberg.

1966–2016: Later life After marrying Greenberg, Douglas traveled between her home in Los Angeles and his in New York City, though the couple eventually settled in Los Angeles, They lived in the Fields House, a Regency-style home in Beverly Hills designed by architect Craig Ellwood.

Death Douglas died in May 2017 in Los Angeles.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1952 Trail Guide Peg Masters 1952 Target Terry Moran 1953 Affair with a Stranger Dolly Murray As Mary Jo Tarola 2001 SportsCentury: Hank Greenberg Herself ESPN documentary