This famous Stirling family "member" was not born into a Stirling family, but many of you have heard and ask about her on Clan Stirling Online.
Linda Stirling - The Tiger Woman
Her real name was Louise Schultz. She was born 11 Oct 1921, in Long Beach California. Most of you know her by her screen and acting name of "Tigress Linda Stirling".
She studied music, dance, and drama as a child and received a scholarship to a Hollywood acting school. But she arrived in Hollywood to discover the school had closed, and she took a job as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre in Hollywood. She modeled in fashion advertisements and one ad led to a screen test. She was cast as a model in Powers Girl, The (1942), but more importantly, she was again spotted in an advertisement, this time by executives of Republic Studios, who were looking for a beautiful but athletic woman to star in their upcoming serial, The Tiger Woman, (1944).
Despite having no experience in the kind of stunts and athletics that would be required, Stirling was able to convince not only the executives but ace stuntman Yakima Canutt of her capability. She won the role and a contract from Republic, and played hard-riding and -fighting heroines in numerous serials, Westerns, and low-budget adventure films over the next three or four years.
Linda married Republic screenwriter Sloan Nibley (1908-1990) in 1946, then retired from films the following year. While raising her family in the 1950s, Stirling occasionally appeared on television in choice character roles. Once her kids were grown, she enrolled at UCLA, eventually earning an MA, a BFA and--at age 50--a PhD.
In the 1960s, she began a whole new career as a teacher of college English and Drama. She valiantly tried to downplay her previous screen life, but every semester one of her students would recognize her as The Tiger Woman, and the jig was up.
Linda retired from teaching, and remained a fixture of the nostalgia-convention circuit. In 1990, as wide-eyed and enthusiastic as ever, she participated in the cable-TV special The Republic Pictures Story. Her beloved husband Sloan died on the 3rd of April 1990, in Los Angeles. Linda died on 20 July 1997 in Studio City, Los Angeles, California from cancer.
So one of our famous Stirling's was not a Stirling by name, but like so many of the rest of us felt one of the primary things in life was to get an education, and give something back to humanity.
Cheers!
Michael L. Jex - mike @ jexperformance dot com
