Linda Christian: career and personal life

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Linda Christian is a Hollywood actress of Mexican origin who became popular in the 1940s-1950s of the last century. Her career was largely overshadowed by her personal life and marriage to movie star Tyrone Power. Bright red hair and beautiful appearance attracted the attention of producers and directors, the road to Hollywood opened up to her almost immediately. But she went down in history more like a fatal beauty than a star.

Young years

Born Rose Welter (later she took the pseudonym Christian Linda) was born in Tampico (Mexico) on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Her father is an engineer from the Netherlands who worked in the oil industry, and her mother is Mexican. She is the oldest of four children. Due to the specifics of the father's profession, the family moved very often - the Middle East, Asia, Europe, South America. Linda was fluent in six languages and fluent in Russian and Arabic.

The future actress wanted to become a doctor after graduating from high school. However, her fate was changed by a chance meeting withHollywood movie star Errol Flynn. He convinced the girl to become an actress and go to conquer the Dream Factory. The advice did not go unnoticed, and already in 1943, the actress starred in her first film, Rock of Souls, on Mexican television. Then Christian Linda chose the pseudonym Welter for herself.

Movie career

Moving to California in the early 1940s, she worked on obscure projects until she was spotted at a fashion show by L. B. Mayer, secretary to MGM's studio executive. It was real luck, he offered the young actress a contract for seven years at once. The debut in American cinema took place in 1944 in the project “With Arms in Hands”, where Dina Shore played the main role. This was followed by episodes in the films "Holiday in Mexico", "Havana Club", "Green Dolphin Street". Linda Christian experienced real success after starring in the movie Tarzan and the Mermaids.

The actress became the first Bond girl on the screen. The debut film adaptation of the agent's adventures, based on the book Casino Royale, was released in 1954. The role of Valerie Mathis brought her fame and added fans. However, the Hollywood career did not last long. In the early 60s, the actress left America and moved to her homeland in Mexico, continuing to periodically participate in soap operas for two decades.

Linda Christian: personal life

The actress has been married twice. They met their first husband in Italy. As the actress admitted, it was love at first sight, beautiful andthe famous Hollywood romantic actor Tyrone Power won her heart immediately. They married on January 27, 1949 at the Church of Santa Francesca Romana in Rome. The ceremony, dubbed the wedding of the century, attracted a huge audience, including several thousand fans of the actors.

The couple divorced in 1956, as Linda Christian herself admitted (biography, photo in the text) “she was pregnant for almost the entire time of her marriage to Power, first losing three children, and then giving birth to two girls.” One of them is Romina Power, a world-famous Italian singer who for a long time performed in a duet with her husband Al Bano. In the photo, the actress is surrounded by her family: daughters and granddaughters.

Immediately after the divorce, the actress began an affair with the famous and married racer Alfonso de Portago. The relationship lasted a year, until his tragic death during the race. The second husband of the actress was the British actor Edmund Perdom. The marriage lasted about a year.

Tarzan and the Mermaids

An adventure film directed by Robert Florey was released in 1948. The plot is based on the world-famous story of Tarzan and Lady Jane brought up by monkeys. Years have passed, the couple lives quietly in the virgin Amazonian forest, and their son is safely studying in London. Linda Christian played the role of a charming mermaid who is rescued one day by Tarzan. She tells a story about the terrible tradition of her tribe - to bring a human sacrifice to the gods. But before she could finish the story, she was kidnapped, and the master of the jungle rushed to the rescue.

Casino Royale

The 1954 film is the very first adaptation of Ian Flemming's famous novel. The plot is somewhat changed compared to the original source, however, as well as some of the characters. For example, the heroine Linda Christian is not in the book; the image of the agent's girl was created specifically for the film. Her partner on the set was Barry Nelson.

The action takes place in France. The head of the trade union, Le Chiffre, works with the Soviet Union. However, the money goes not only to the development of the spy network, but also to personal enrichment. He opens profitable brothels, which are soon banned in France. On the verge of ruin, he puts the last money on a game in a casino. James Bond must prevent him from winning, to return to the political and business arena.

Linda Christian, whose films are not so numerous, could build a very successful career. She had all the data for this - expressive appearance and acting talent. Her professional development was largely influenced by her marriage, and then the death of her lover and ex-husband. Devoting herself to the family, she practically left the cinema.