Biography

Patricia Dorothy Douglas (March 5, 1917 – November 11, 2003) was an American dancer and actress. On May 5, 1937, Douglas was targeted and raped by MGM salesman David Ross while attending a studio benefactors' party and later filed a legal complaint against the Los Angeles County D. A. for refusing to investigate Ross and other MGM executives; Douglas would later become the subject of a publicized smear campaign backed by MGM, and the case against Ross and the Los Angeles County D. A. would later be fully dismissed in court. Despite the negative outturn of the case and Douglas' subsequent retirement from Hollywood in the early 1940's, historians collectively recognize Douglas' public outcry against sexual abuse in the film industry as groundbreaking and revolutionary for the time.