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Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big-budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s. She co-starred with Tyrone Power in adventure films, and established a main character career after her role in Forever Amber (1947). She won critical acclaim for her work in Unfaithfully Yours (1948) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949).
Although originally wanting to become an actress on the stage, Darnell was featured in a Gateway to Hollywood talent search and initially landed a contract at RKO Pictures.[3] There was no certainty, though, and she soon returned to Dallas. When 20th Century-Fox offered her a part, Darnell wanted to accept, but RKO was unwilling to release her.[3] Nevertheless, by age 15 she was signed to a contract at 20th Century-Fox and moved to a small apartment in Hollywood all alone on April 5, 1939.[5] 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.[3] Loretta Young was originally assigned to play the role, but she demanded a salary which the studio would not give her. Darryl F. Zanuck instead cast Darnell "because he felt that the name would advertise her beauty and suggest a Latin quality that matched her coloring."[1]: 41
Although only 15 at the time, Darnell posed as a 17-year-old and was listed as 19 years old by the studio.[3] According to columnist Louella O. Parsons, Darnell was "so young, so immature and so naive in her ideas" and was very loyal to her boss, Darryl F. Zanuck.[3] Her true age came out later in 1939, and she became one of the few actresses under the age of 16 to serve as leading ladies in films.[6] While working on Hotel for Women, Darnell was cast alongside Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) in June 1939.[7] 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."[1]: 43
Since the beginning of her career at 20th Century-Fox, Darnell had been very positive about her frequent co-star Tyrone Power. In a 1939 interview, she expressed her interest in starring opposite Power in Johnny Apollo (1940).[3] Rationalizing why she was not cast, Darnell said: "It's a man's part and the girl's role is only incidental."[3] Dorothy Lamour was cast, instead. Nevertheless, Darnell had her way, as she was assigned to the female lead opposite Power in the light romantic comedy Day-Time Wife (1939). Although the film received only slightly favorable reviews, Darnell's performance was received positively, with one critic saying: "Despite her apparent youth, [Darnell] turns in an outstanding performance when playing with popular players."[8] Another critic wrote: "little Linda is not only a breath-taking eyeful, but a splendid actress, as well."[9] Life magazine stated that Darnell appeared to be 22 and was "the most physically perfect girl in Hollywood".[10] Following the film's release, she was cast in the drama comedy Star Dust in December 1939.[11] The film was hailed as one of the "most original entertainment idea[s] in years" and boosted Darnell's popularity, who was nicknamed "Hollywood's loveliest and most exciting star".[12] Variety said: "Miss Darnell displays a wealth of youthful charm and personality that confirms studio efforts to build her to a draw personality."[1]: 53 Her studio contract had been revised to allow Darnell to earn $200 a week.
At first, everything was like a fairy tale coming true. I stepped into a fabulous land where, overnight, I was a movie star. In pictures you're built up by everyone. On the set, in the publicity office, wherever you go, everyone says you're wonderful. It gives you a false sense of security. You waltz through a role, and everywhere you hear that you are beautiful and lovely, a natural-born actress. You believe what people around you say.[1]: 51
After appearing in several small films, Darnell was cast in her first big-budget film in May 1940, appearing again opposite Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940), which was shot on location in mid 1940 and was regarded as the most expensive film 20th Century Fox had yet produced.[1]: 55 Darnell and Power were cast together for the second time owing to the box office success of Day-Time Wife, and they became a highly publicized onscreen couple, which prompted Darryl F. Zanuck to add 18 more romantic scenes to Brigham Young.[13] The film's director, Henry Hathaway, in later life had only slight memories of Darnell but recalled that "a sweeter girl never lived."[1]: 55 By June 1940, shortly after completing Brigham Young, Darnell earned "a weekly salary larger than most bank officials."[14]
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.[1]: 58 A big-budget adventure film that was raved over by the critics, The Mark of Zorro was a box office sensation and did much to enhance Darnell's star status.[1]: 58 Afterwards, she was paired with Henry Fonda for the first time in the western Chad Hanna (1940), her first Technicolor film. The film received only moderate attention, unlike Darnell's next film, Blood and Sand (1941), which was shot on location in Mexico and in which she was reunited with Power. It was the first film for which she was widely critically acclaimed.[1]: 63 Nevertheless, Darnell later claimed that her downfall began after Blood and Sand. In an interview she said:
People got tired of seeing the sweet young things I was playing and I landed at the bottom of the roller coaster. The change and realization were very subtle. I'd had the fame and money every girl dreams about—and the romance. I'd crammed thirty years into ten, and while it was exciting and I would do it over again, I still know I missed out on my girlhood, the fun, little things that now seem important.[1]: 63–64
The studio was unable to find Darnell suitable roles. In late 1940, Fox chose her for the main role in Song of the Islands (1942), a Hawaiian musical film which eventually starred Betty Grable.[15] After Blood and Sand, she was set to co-star with Claudette Colbert in Remember the Day (1941), but another actress was eventually cast.[1]: 65 Meanwhile, she was considered for the female lead in Swamp Water (1941), but Anne Baxter was later assigned the role. Darnell was disappointed and felt rejected; she later said: "Right under your very nose someone else is brought in for that prize part you wanted so terribly."[1]: 65 Months passed by without any work, and in August 1941 she was cast in a supporting role in the musical Rise and Shine (1941). The film was a setback in her career, and she was rejected for a later role because she refused to respond to Darryl F. Zanuck's advances.[1]: 67–68 Instead, she contributed to the war effort, working for the Red Cross and selling war bonds. She was also a regular at the Hollywood Canteen.
In early 1942, Darnell filmed The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, another film that would not do much to advance her career. Meanwhile, she realized that Darryl F. Zanuck had lost interest in her, and she was overlooked for most film roles that suited her.[1]: 69 Instead, she was cast in roles that she loathed, including the musical Orchestra Wives (1942).[16] Zanuck insisted that she take the role, but she was replaced by Ann Rutherford after 12 days of shooting. The press reported that "Linda Darnell and Twentieth Century-Fox aren't on the best of terms at the moment."[1]: 69 As a punishment, she was loaned out to another studio for a supporting role in a B movie called City Without Men (1943). According to co-star Rosemary DeCamp, Darnell nevertheless was "very polite", and she was satisfied to work at a studio which did not treat her as a child.[1]: 73 In April 1943, she was put on suspension, which meant being replaced in the Technicolor musical film The Gang's All Here (1943). By this time, Darnell had eloped, which caused Zanuck to be even more furious.[1]: 75
In 1943, she was cast, uncredited, as the Virgin Mary in The Song of Bernadette. By late 1943, Darnell was fed up with critics only praising her beauty rather than her acting abilities. Judging her performance in Sweet and Low-Down (1944), in which she co-starred with Lynn Bari, one critic of the Los Angeles Examiner wrote, "Lynn comes off the best because she has more of a chance to shine. Linda just doesn't have enough to do—but looks beautiful doing it."[1]: 81 Darnell was reduced to second leads and was overlooked for big-budget productions. Matters changed when she was named one of the four most beautiful women in Hollywood along with Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, and Gene Tierney in a 1944 edition of Look.[1]: 82 Afterwards, the studio allowed her to be loaned out for the lead in Summer Storm. Portraying a "seductive peasant girl who takes three men to their ruin before she herself is murdered,"[1]: 82 it was a type of role she had never before played. In a later interview, Darnell commented:
I was told that such a violent change of type might ruin my career, but I insisted on taking the chance. [...] This is one picture on which I am setting much store for the future. For eighteen months I did nothing in pictures. I pleaded for something to do, but nothing happened. The character in the Chekhov film is a wild sort of she-devil, which any actress would go miles to play. She's devil mostly—at times angelic—and perfectly fascinating to interpret. I'm counting on my Russian girl to give me a new start.[1]: 82–83
Released in 1944, the film provided her a new screen image as a pin-up girl. Shortly after, Darnell was again loaned out to portray a showgirl in The Great John L., the first film to feature her bare legs.[1]: 83 Darnell complained that the studio lacked recognition of her, which prodded Zanuck to cast her in Hangover Square (1945), wherein she played a role she personally had chosen.[1]: 84 The film became a great success, and with Darnell's triumph assured, she was allowed to abandon her upcoming film, Don Juan Quilligan (1945), which would have been another low point in her career.[1]: 84 In January 1945, she was added to the cast of the film noir Fallen Angel (1945), which also included Dana Andrews and Alice Faye. Despite suffering from the "terrifying" director Otto Preminger, Darnell completed the film and was praised by reviewers so widely that there was even talk of an Oscar nomination.[1]: 89 Because of her success in Fallen Angel, she was cast opposite Tyrone Power in Captain from Castile in December 1945[17] on the insistence of Joseph L. Mankiewicz.[18] Although she looked forward to the film project, believing it would be her most important to date,[1]: 90 she was later replaced by newcomer Jean Peters owing to scheduling conflicts, a decision she resented.[1]: 134
In 1946, Darnell filmed two pictures simultaneously, the expensively budgeted Anna and the King of Siam and Preminger's Centennial Summer. During the release of the latter, she was on location in Monument Valley for the filming of the John Ford Western My Darling Clementine (1946), playing a role for which she lost 12 pounds. She was assigned to a negligible role by Zanuck, which displeased Ford, who felt that she was not suitable. Wikipedia
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