| How true this reply was since Linda was so beautiful she was known as "the face" in Hollywood. Not only was she beautiful outside, but she was also good inside.
Linda Darnell, was born Monetta Eloyse Darnell, in  Dallas, Texas on October 16, 1923. She was one of five children of a post office worker and his wife. A Texas-born beauty, her mother encouraged her to model. Her mother already knew that Linda was special because of her rare good looks and she was determined that her beautiful daughter would be a star.
By 1934 she was modeling clothes for an area department store. Sometimes officials would think that she was 15 or 16 because she really didn't look her age. Neither Linda nor her mother discouraged their thinking. By the time Linda was 13, she was appearing with local theater companies and her talent was already becoming apparent. There was no doubt that Linda had a rare gift for someone so young. When the Hollywood moguls sent scouts to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, her mother thought it would be a good idea to give Linda a shot at a try-out. The talent scouts took one look at her and her acting abilities and arranged for a screen test. She made the trek to Hollywood and when her true age was discovered she was sent home. After two years and more local theater appearances, Linda  returned to California and her career was off and running. Her debut was in 1939 in the role of Marcia Bromley in A Hotel for Women. She was all of 16 at the time and became the youngest leading lady in Hollywood history. Her next film was that same year in Daytime Wife. Her third film was as Carolyn Sayres in Star Dust made in 1940 and Linda immediately rose to heights of stardom. Other quality films followed. In 1941 she appeared in Blood and Sand and Rise and Shine.
 In 1945 she played Netta Longdon in the film Hangover Square. The movie proved to be a box-office bonanza. The following year Linda appeared with the legendary Dorothy Gish in Centennial Summer. Later that same year she co-starred with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature in My Darling Clementine. It was another hit. Linda reached the height of her career when she played opposite Cornell Wilde in 1947's Forever Amber where she survives the famed London fire. Unfortunately, although this film was a huge success Linda didn't feel she had earned the critical acclaim she hoped for. However two years later in the film A Letter to Three Wives she achieved both critical acclaim and true stardom. The wonderful script written by the great Joe Mankiewicz began a life long friendship which some think turned into the great love of Linda's life.
In 1952 she starred in Blackbeard the Pirate along with Irene Ryan, Robert Newton, and William Bendix. Linda's final appearance on the silver screen was in 1965's Black Spurs.
On April 10, 1965, Linda died of burns she suffered in the house fire of her former secretary. Ironically, she had been watching STAR DUST on television earlier that evening, which was one of the films that set her career in motion. She had filmed a total of 46 movies. Often described as the "girl with the perfect face", Linda died at the age of 41. She was married and divorced three times. Her husbands were:
- J. Peverell Marley from 1944-1952
- Phillip Liebmann from 1954-1955
- Merle Roy Robertson from 1957-1962
Trivia
- Linda's family had a pet rooster named Weedy who was seen with her in the film Chad Hanna.
- Youngest leading lady in Hollywood history at age sixteen.
- The picture on the piano in A Letter to Three Wives that was supposed to be Addie Ross, was instead one of Otto Preminger whom Linda hated. The director thought this would help Linda to have the reaction he wanted, it did.
- In the Song of Bernadette she played the vision of the Virgin Mary for which she was uncredited.
- Linda died in a fire, but she wasn't watching her old movie, Star Dust at the time, as often reported. She had gone to bed already, but she had seen the film earlier that night.
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