Lynn Loring

Biography

Born Lynn Zimring in New York City, Loring began acting with a role on the anthology series Studio One on CBS. In 1951 at the age of seven, she played Patti Barron in the television soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She remained in the role for ten years, until she graduated from high school in 1961.

Loring played Barbara Erskine, the daughter of Inspector Lewis Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), during the first season (1965-1966) of The F.B.I.:337 She played Susan Foster in the 1964 episode “The Case of the Paper Bullets” on Perry Mason. Also in 1964, she played Filene in the “Memo From Purgatory” episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as well as playing Bonnie Daniels in the “Behind the Locked Door” episode of the same series. In 1965, she played Maybelle Williams in “Judgement in Heaven”, the Christmas episode of the western series The Big Valley.

Her other television work included playing Betty Anderson Harrington in Return to Peyton Place,:890 as well as appearing in The Eleventh Hour, Daniel Boone, and The Mod Squad.

Lynn Loring made an unlikely, but impressive, transition from child actress to actress to president of a major TV studio. In 1975, she discontinued acting in favor of a career in production, of both made-for-TV movies and feature films such as Mr. Mom (1983). In 1979, Loring worked as the casting director for a TV movie, Raid on Coffeyville. She shifted into producing and, for several years, had an initially fruitful partnership with Aaron Spelling. In the late 1980s, she was named president 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.

Loring was married to actor Roy Thinnes from 1967 to 1984, when they divorced. Loring wed Michael Bergman, an attorney, in 1988.