Photo Opportunity #45

Photo Opportunity #45

We kick off the New Year with our regular, first of the month, Photo Opportunity – a shameless excuse to simply pull out a great photo from the files for all to enjoy. To begin 2024 I’ve chosen this great shot of Clint and the lovely Tisha Sterling (as Linny Raven) taken on the set of Don Siegel’s great crime thriller Coogan’s Bluff (1968). 

Patricia Ann "Tisha" Sterling (born December 10, 1944) is now a retired American actress. She is the only daughter of actor Robert Sterling and actress Ann Sothern. Sterling was born in Los Angeles, California. Her parents divorced when she was three years old.

Sterling started acting in the 1960s with an appearance on her mother's television series The Ann Sothern Show. She later appeared in episodes of The Donna Reed Show; The Long, Hot Summer; Bonanza; Batman episodes 43 and 44 as Legs, the daughter of Ma Parker (played by Shelley Winters); The Name of the Game; The Bold Ones: The Lawyers; Hawaii Five-O; Columbo and The New Adventures of Perry Mason.

She appeared in the feature films Village of the Giants (1965), Coogan's Bluff (1968), and Norwood (1970).

In 1987, Sterling played a younger version of her mother's character (in flashbacks) in The Whales of August. Following that role, she appeared in two other films. Sterling made her last onscreen appearance in Breakfast of Champions (1999), opposite Bruce Willis.

She has since retired from acting, and works as a florist in Ketchum, Idaho (where her mother lived for many years until her death in 2001) with her daughter, Heidi Bates Hogan. Sterling was married to Lal Baum (1937–1987), the great-grandson of author L. Frank Baum, from 1965 until 1970. Baum died of a brain tumour on July 21, 1987.