Linda Darnell

Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modelling as a child to acting in theatre and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in both lead and supporting roles in big-budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s. She co-starred with Tyrone Power in four films, including the classic The Mark of Zorro. Her biggest commercial success was the controversial Forever Amber (1947), an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the 1940s and Fox's biggest hit of 1947. She won critical acclaim for her work in Summer Storm (1944), Hangover Square (1945), Fallen Angel (1945), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), and No Way Out (1950).

Early life Darnell was born in Dallas, Texas, as one of four children (excluding her mother's two children from an earlier marriage) to postal clerk Calvin Roy Darnell and the former Margaret "Pearl" Brown. One of her maternal great-grandparents was Cherokee. Starting at an early age, her mother, Pearl, had big plans for Darnell in the entertainment industry. She believed that Linda was her only child with potential as an actress and ignored the rearing of her other children.

According to her siblings, Darnell enjoyed the limelight and shared her mother's dream. Darnell was a model by the age of 11 and was acting on the stage by the age of 13. She initially started modeling to earn money for the household She did not have a lot in common with her peers and usually spent her time at home as a teen, working under the guidance of her mother. With production beginning in April 1939, she was featured in her first film, Hotel for Women (1939), which had newspapers immediately hailing her as the newest star of Hollywood. While working on Hotel for Women, Darnell was cast alongside Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) in June 1939. She was later replaced because the studio felt her role was not important enough. In an interview during production of Hotel for Women, which lasted until June, Darnell admitted that movie making was not what she expected: "I'm learning what really hard work is. At home in Dallas I used to sprawl on the lawn and dream about the nice, easy time the screen stars must be having in Hollywood, but the last two months have taught me quite another story." Another critic wrote: "little Linda is not only a breath-taking eyeful, but a splendid actress, as well." Life magazine stated that Darnell appeared to be 22 and was "the most physically perfect girl in Hollywood". Following the film's release, she was cast in the drama comedy Star Dust in December 1939. The film was hailed as one of the "most original entertainment idea in years" and boosted Darnell's popularity, who was nicknamed "Hollywood's loveliest and most exciting star". Variety said: "Miss Darnell displays a wealth of youthful charm and personality that confirms studio efforts to build her to a draw personality." The film's director, Henry Hathaway, in later life had only slight memories of Darnell but recalled that "a sweeter girl never lived."

In the summer of 1940, Darnell began working on The Mark of Zorro (1940), in which she again co-starred as Power's sweetheart in a role for which Anne Baxter was previously considered. After Blood and Sand, she was set to co-star with Claudette Colbert in Remember the Day (1941), but another actress was eventually cast. Zanuck insisted that she take the role, but she was replaced by Ann Rutherford after 12 days of shooting, with the press reporting that "Linda Darnell and Twentieth Century-Fox aren't on the best of terms at the moment." on the insistence of Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Although she looked forward to the film project, believing it would be her most important to date,

Renewed success

In 1946, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated movie Forever Amber, based on a bestselling historical novel that was denounced as being immoral at that time. The character Amber was so named because of her hair color, and this is the only major film in which Darnell—normally known for her raven hair and somewhat Latin looks—appears as a redhead. It was the most expensive film so far produced by Fox, and publicity at the time compared the novel to 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Darnell replaced British actress Peggy Cummins in July 1946 at a cost of (equivalent to $million in ). Because $1 million (equivalent to $million in ) had already been spent on production costs when Darnell was brought in, the pressure was intense to make the film a financial success. Her casting was a result of a campaign for stronger roles. Darnell was disappointed in the film's reception; it did not gain her the recognition she desired. She was responsible for putting the film behind schedule because on the fifth day of shooting she learned that Ivan Kahn, the man responsible for her breakthrough, had died. After The Lady Pays Off, Darnell headed the cast of Saturday Island (1952), which was filmed on location in Jamaica in late 1951. There, Darnell fell ill and had to be quarantined for several weeks. Because her contract required her to make one film a year for the studio, she reported to the 20th Century-Fox lot in March 1952 and was cast in the film noir Night Without Sleep (1952). It was the only time that she had to live up to this part of her contract, although she was released from it in September 1952.

This news initially excited Darnell because it permitted her to focus on her film career in Europe. She soon realized, though, that the ease and protection enjoyed under contract was gone, and she came to resent 20th Century-Fox and Zanuck: Suppose you'd been earning $4,000 to $5,000 a week for years. Suddenly you were fired and no one would hire you at any figure remotely comparable to your previous salary. I thought in a little while I'd get offers from other studios, but not many came along. The only thing I knew how to do was be a movie star. No one expects to last forever in this business. You know that sooner or later the studio's going to let you go. But who wants to be retired at twenty-nine? (At the time of her death a few months later, she was preparing to perform in another play.)

Personal life Since Darnell was underage when she arrived in Hollywood, she was tutored on set. She planned on attending graduation ceremonies at Sunset High School, but she was excluded from them and instead graduated from University High School in 1941. The report turned out to be false, and over the years Darnell became known as "filmland's most eligible bachelorette." quote=At thirty-two, I can see tell-tale marks in the mirror, but the ravages of time no longer terrify me. I am told that when surface beauty is gone, the real woman emerges. My only regret will be that I could not have begun it earlier—that so many years have been ruined because I was considered beautiful. — — Darnell shortly after her divorce from Liebmann. but went into rehab, recovering for a while. In 1963, Darnell was granted a divorce from Robertson following an outburst in the courtroom, where she accused her third husband of fathering the baby of a Polish actress. She was promised alimony of $350 monthly until July 15, 1964, and then $250 until September 15, 1967. She had been staying at the home of her former secretary and the secretary's daughter and had just received notice from her agent of three possible movie contracts. She was trapped on the second floor of the home by heat and smoke after the fire had started in the living room.

The women urged the secretary's daughter to jump from the second-floor window. After her daughter jumped, Darnell's secretary stood on the window ledge, calling for help. She had lost track of Darnell and insisted that the firefighters rescue Darnell before she was taken from the window ledge. Darnell was found next to the burning living-room sofa and was transferred to the burn unit at Chicago's Cook County Hospital with burns over 80% of her body.

After her death, a man who said that he was Darnell's fiancé identified her body. A coroner's inquest ruled that Darnell's death was accidental and that the fire had begun in or near the living-room sofa and was caused by careless smoking; both women were smokers.

Recognition Darnell has a star at 1631 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Filmography + Film Year Title Role Notes 1939 Hotel for Women Marcia Bromley Day-Time Wife Jane Norton 1940 Star Dust Carolyn Sayres Brigham Young Zina Webb – The Outsider Alternative title: Brigham Young: Frontiersman Lolita Quintero Chad Hanna Caroline Tridd Hanna 1941 Blood and Sand Carmen Espinosa Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - August Rise and Shine Louise Murray 1942 The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe Virginia Clemm 1943 City Without Men Nancy Johnson Alternative title: Prison Farm Virgin Mary Uncredited 1944 It Happened Tomorrow Sylvia Smith / Sylvia Stevens Buffalo Bill Dawn Starlight Summer Storm Olga Kuzminichna Urbenin Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - August Sweet and Low-Down Trudy Wilson 1945 Hangover Square Netta Longdon The Great John L. Anne Livingstone Fallen Angel Stella Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - January 1946 Anna and the King of Siam Tuptim Centennial Summer Edith Rogers My Darling Clementine Chihuahua 1947 Forever Amber Amber St. Clair Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - January 1948 The Walls of Jericho Algeria Wedge Unfaithfully Yours Daphne De Carter 1949 Lora Mae Hollingsway Slattery's Hurricane Mrs. Aggie Hobson Everybody Does It Cecil Carter Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - November 1950 No Way Out Edie Johnson Photoplay Award for Best Performances of the Month - November Two Flags West Elena Kenniston 1951 Denise Turner The Guy Who Came Back Dee Shane Evelyn Walsh Warren 1952 Saturday Island Lt. Elizabeth Smythe Night Without Sleep Julie Bannon Blackbeard the Pirate Edwina Mansfield 1953 Second Chance Clare Shepperd, alias Clare Sinclair 1954 Angels of Darkness Lola Baldi Original title: Donne proibite This Is My Love Vida Dove 1955 It Happens in Roma Renata Adorni Alternative title: The Last Five Minutes 1956 Dakota Incident Amy Clarke 1957 Zero Hour! Ellen Stryker 1965 Black Spurs Sadie Posthumous release, (final film role)

+Television Year Title Role Notes 1956 Lily Martyn Episode: "Deception" 1956 Screen Director's Playhouse Ellen Episode: "White Corridors"1956What's My LineHerself (guest appearance)March 25, 1956 1956–1957 Jennifer Hollander/Meredith MontagueAnn Dean Episodes: "All for a Man""Fate Travels East" 1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Episode: "Terror in the Streets" 1957 Playhouse 90 Meg Lyttleton Episode: "Homeward Borne" 1957 Climax! Helen Randall Episode: "Trial by Fire" 1958 The Jane Wyman Show Lora Episode: "The Elevator" 1958 Studio 57 Episode: "My Little Girl" 1958 Wagon Train Dora Gray Fogelberry Episodes: "The Dora Gray Story""The Sacramento Story" 1958 Pursuit Episode: "Free Ride" 1958 Cimarron City Mary Clinton Episode: "Kid on a Calico Horse" 1959 77 Sunset Strip Zina Felice Episode: "Sing Something Simple" 1964 Burke's Law Monica Crenshaw Episode: "Who Killed His Royal Highness?"

Radio appearances