Lynn Loring obit

Lynn Loring, ‘Search for Tomorrow’ Actress Turned Producer and Top Television Executive, Dies at 80

She produced ‘Mr. Mom’ at Aaron Spelling’s company and while at MGM/UA thought ‘In the Heat of the Night’ would make a great series and that Carroll O’Connor should star in it. 

 She was not on the list.

Lynn Loring, who appeared as a young actress on Search for Tomorrow, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and The F.B.I. before becoming one of the highest-ranking female executives in Hollywood at the time, has died. She was 80.

Loring died Dec. 23 at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center after a series of chronic illnesses, her son, Chris Thinnes, told The Hollywood Reporter. Her family chose not to make public her death until now.

Loring also acted in a few movies, including Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass (1961), Pressure Point (1962) and, alongside then-husband Roy Thinnes, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969).

When she was 7, Loring joined the new CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow in September 1951 for the first of its 35 seasons. She would portray Patti Barron, daughter of Mary Stuart’s Joanne Gardner, for a decade until she graduated from the Calhoun School for Girls and entered Barnard College when she was 14.

She starred on the 1962-63 CBS/Desilu sitcom Fair Exchange, which revolved around American and English families who trade daughters for a year (Loring’s Patty Walker moves to London, while her counterpart, played by Judy Carne, comes to New York). It started out as a one-hour comedy, was canceled and then renewed as a half-hour show — all in the same season.

Loring portrayed the girl beatnik Edwina “Eddie” Kegel, a romantic interest of male beatnik Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver), on two episodes of CBS’ The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis in 1962 and was the daughter of Efrem Zimbalist Jr.’s Inspector Lewis Erskine on the first season (1965-66) of ABC’s The F.B.I.

After leaving acting in 1975 to raise her family, Loring returned to show business four years later as a casting director on the NBC telefilm The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang and on the network’s big-budget flop, Supertrain.

She then joined Aaron Spelling Productions, first as a producer on telefilms including 1979’s The Return of Mod Squad and 1981’s The Best Little Girl in the World — a film about anorexia — then as a vice president of development and talent, motion pictures and television.

In the latter capacity, she produced Mr. Mom (1983), starring Michael Keaton. The comedy was a huge success, grossing more than $120 million on a $5.5 million budget.

Loring exited in 1985 to become a development executive at MGM-UA Television, and she came up with the idea to turn the Oscar best picture winner In the Heat of the Night into a TV series, according to Carroll O’Connor, who starred as Chief Bill Gillespie on the show.

“She said to Fred Silverman one day, ‘I think In the Heat of the Night would make a good series, I would like to see you produce it for us, and I would like you to get Carroll O’Connor to play the chief,” the actor recalled in 1999.

Loring was named president of the division — second in command to MGM/UA Television Productions chairman and CEO David Gerber — in 1989, becoming one of the highest-ranking female execs in Hollywood at the time.

“I don’t look at it as something I’ve accomplished for all womanhood,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “But in my position, I have an obligation to stand up and be counted. I’m not looking to be a spokesperson for women, but I find what I say matters, and that excites me.”

Lynn Eileen Zimring was born in Manhattan on July 14, 1943. Her father, Charles Zimring, was a New York shipyard owner, and her mother, Barbara Loring, a publicist.

She started modeling when she was 3 and was still just a kid when she starred on commercials for RCA Victor as a sort of junior Betty Furness. While working on New York-based Search for Tomorrow, she had a second gig as the daughter of the title character on the 1953-54 ABC sitcom The Jean Carroll Show.

After Search, Loring was an in-demand guest star, showing up on such shows as Wagon Train, The Eleventh Hour, Gunsmoke, The Defenders, Daniel Boone, Perry Mason, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Big Valley, Burke’s Law, The Wild Wild West, Bonanza, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mod Squad and Police Woman.

She left MGM/UA in the mid-1990s and became an independent producer.

Loring married Thinnes in 1967 and appeared with him on his ABC sci-fi series The Invaders and in a couple of telefilms before they divorced in 1984. She then wed late attorney Michael Bergman in 1988.

Survivors also include her daughter, Casey-Leigh.

 

Actress

The Kansas City Massacre (1975)

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Vi Morland

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The Desperate Miles (1975)

The Desperate Miles

5.3

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Jill

1975

 

Angie Dickinson in Police Woman (1974)

Police Woman

6.6

TV Series

Janet Richards

1974

1 episode

 

Return to Peyton Place (1972)

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7.9

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Betty Anderson Harrington Cord Harrington, RN #2

1973

1 episode

 

The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)

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1973

 

Circle of Fear (1972)

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7.5

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Janet

1972

1 episode

 

Peggy Lipton, Michael Cole, and Clarence Williams III in Mod Squad (1968)

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6.9

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Melissa Laker

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Lynn Loring and Roy Thinnes in Black Noon (1971)

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The Young Lawyers (1969)

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7.1

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Christopher George in The Immortal (1969)

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7.6

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1970

1 episode

 

Lancer (1968)

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7.1

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1968–1970

2 episodes

 

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun

6.3

Sharon Ross

1969

 

My Three Sons (1960)

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7.1

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Denise Robinson

1968

1 episode

 

Robert Vaughn, Leo G. Carroll, and David McCallum in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

7.7

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Christine Hobson

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1967

2 episodes

 

The Invaders (1967)

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8.0

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Madeline Flagg

1967

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Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963)

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7.6

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1967

1 episode

 

Bonanza (1959)

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7.3

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Laurie Ferguson

1966

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And Baby Makes Three (1966)

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8.2

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Jennie Winston

1966

 

A Man Called Shenandoah (1965)

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7.6

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Jocelyn Moore

1966

1 episode

 

Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in The Wild Wild West (1965)

The Wild Wild West

8.1

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Carma Vasquez

1966

1 episode

 

Burke's Law (1963)

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7.3

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Ann Rogers

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1966

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Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)

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7.6

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Maybelle

1965

1 episode

 

The F.B.I. (1965)

The F.B.I.

7.4

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1965

12 episodes

 

Alfred Hitchcock in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962)

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8.5

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Bonnie Daniels

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1964

2 episodes

 

James Franciscus in Mr. Novak (1963)

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7.5

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June

1964

1 episode

 

Raymond Burr in Perry Mason (1957)

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8.3

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Susan Foster

1964

1 episode

 

Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)

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7.3

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1964

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7.7

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1964

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Robert Reed and E.G. Marshall in The Defenders (1961)

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8.0

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1961–1964

2 episodes

 

James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, and Dennis Weaver in Gunsmoke (1955)

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8.1

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Maybelle

1963

1 episode

 

Fair Exchange (1962)

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8.0

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Patty Walker

1962–1963

22 episodes

 

Angela Lansbury and Tuesday Weld in The Eleventh Hour (1962)

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7.8

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1963

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Sidney Poitier and Bobby Darin in Pressure Point (1962)

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7.1

Jewish Girl

1962

 

Bob Denver and Dwayne Hickman in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959)

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7.7

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Eddie Kegel

Edwina Kegel

1962

2 episodes

 

Robert Harland and Stephen McNally in Target: The Corruptors (1961)

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7.6

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1962

1 episode

 

John McIntire in Wagon Train (1957)

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7.5

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Kathy Jennings

1962

1 episode

 

Jane Krakowski, Matthew Ashford, Domini Blythe, Colleen Dion, Terri Eoff, David Forsyth, Lee Godart, Louan Gideon, Marcia McCabe, Jeffrey Meek, Jacqueline Schultz, and Mary Stuart in Search for Tomorrow (1951)

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7.1

TV Series

Patti Barron Tate Whiting McCleary, R. N. #1 (1951-1961) (original cast)

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1951–1961

240 episodes

 

Joan Freeman, Marilyn Maxwell, and Rhodes Reason in Bus Stop (1961)

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7.1

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Anabel Jenkins

1961

1 episode

 

Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass (1961)

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7.7

Carolyn

1961

 

Special for Women: Mother and Daughter

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1961

 

Walter Matthau in Play of the Week (1959)

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7.1

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1960

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1960

1 episode

 

Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950)

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7.7

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Lucy Hermann

1951–1958

3 episodes

 

Kraft Theatre (1947)

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8.0

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1958

1 episode

 

Frontiers of Faith (1951)

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1955

1 episode

 

Omnibus (1952)

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8.4

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Eva (segment "Uncle Tom's Cabin")

1955

1 episode

 

The Stranger

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1955

1 episode

 

The Man Behind the Badge (1953)

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7.1

TV Series

The Daughter

1954

1 episode

 

Studio One (1948)

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7.5

TV Series

Carol Clark

Pat

1952–1954

2 episodes

 

The Jean Carroll Show

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Daughter

1953–1954

11 episodes

 

Robert Montgomery Presents (1950)

Robert Montgomery Presents

7.9

TV Series

1953

1 episode

 

Proudly I Love

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1953

 

Hands of Mystery (1949)

Hands of Mystery

5.2

TV Series

1951

1 episode

 

Starlight Theatre (1950)

Starlight Theatre

7.3

TV Series

1951

1 episode

 

The Web (1950)

The Web

7.4

TV Series

1951

1 episode

 

Producer

Danny Aiello and Alex Zuckerman in Me and the Kid (1993)

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producer

1993

 

David Birney and Morgan Brittany in Glitter (1984)

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6.4

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producer

1984–1985

13 episodes

 

Joan Collins and Jon-Erik Hexum in Making of a Male Model (1983)

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5.8

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producer

1983

 

Mr. Mom (1983)

Mr. Mom

6.6

producer (produced by)

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Loni Anderson in Sizzle (1981)

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producer

1981

 

The Best Little Girl in the World (1981)

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6.3

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1981

 

Peggy Lipton, Tige Andrews, Michael Cole, and Clarence Williams III in The Return of Mod Squad (1979)

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6.7

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1979

 

Additional Crew

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6.8

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Joan Collins and Jon-Erik Hexum in Making of a Male Model (1983)

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5.8

TV Movie

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6.3

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executive in charge of creative affairs

1983

1 episode

 

Don't Go to Sleep (1982)

Don't Go to Sleep

6.5

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executive in charge of creative affairs

1982

 

Lee Horsley in Matt Houston (1982)

Matt Houston

6.5

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executive in charge of creative affairs

1982

1 episode

 

Scared Silly (1982)

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executive in charge of creative

1982