Tina Louise Movies and Career Information

Tina Louise (born February 11, 1934) is an American actress, singer and author. She played the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island. Tina Blacker was born in New York City. She was raised by her mother, Betty Horn, a fashion model. The name "Louise" was supposedly added during her senior year in high school when she mentioned to her drama teacher that she was the only girl in the class without a middle name. He immediately picked the name "Louise" and it stuck. She attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. At the age of 17, Louise began studying acting, singing and dancing. During her early acting years, she was offered modeling jobs and appeared on the cover of several pinup magazines such as Adam, Sir! and Modern Man. Her later pictorials for Playboy (May 1958, April 1959) were arranged by Columbia Pictures studio in an effort to further promote the young actress. Her acting debut came in 1952 in the Bette Davis musical revue Two's Company, followed by roles in other Broadway productions, such as John Murray Anderson's Almanac, The Fifth Season, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She also appeared in such early live TV dramas as Studio