Mary Hartline
American actress

Mary Pauline Hartline (October 29, 1927 – August 12, 2020) was an American model and actress who became one of television's early stars.
Early life
Hartline was born in Hillsboro, Illinois, the second child and second daughter of Paul and Dorothy Crowder Hartline. Her father was involved in local politics, becoming chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party and, after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president, the Hillsboro postmaster. Hartline graduated from Hillsboro High School, where she was elected the "Queen of Love and Beauty" (then the equivalent of the prom queen).
Harold Stokes was a Montgomery County native who had gained success as a band leader and radio personality. During a period that he was out of broadcasting, he was living near Hillsboro and was persuaded to produce a local amateur show fund-raiser. Hartline was a dancer in the show.
Career
Upon graduating from high school, with the encouragement of Stokes, Hartline moved to Chicago with the intent to become a model. In 1945, she was cast in ABC radio's Teen Town (later known as Junior Junction). The program made its debut on 2 January 1946 and featured Hartline leading a 16-member Sweetheart Band, which was composed of eight boys and eight girls.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mary Hartline” as american actress. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actress. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q13560316. VIAF identifies the subject as 18159760907907880330. The Library of Congress control number is no2022046436. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 2020, 1945 and 1946.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mary Hartline”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mary Hartline primary sources, Mary Hartline archive and Mary research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mary Hartline”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mary Hartline” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.