---
name: "Linda Darnell"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/linda-darnell"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "16 October 1923"
died: "10 April 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T02:02:12.914348+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Linda Darnell

Actor. Born 16 October 1923 in Dallas, Texas, USA. Died 10 April 1965.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 16 October 1923, Dallas, Texas, USA
- **Died:** 10 April 1965
- **Also known as:** Monetta Eloyse Darnell
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 other
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Darnell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q234900, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001105/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30289

## Fi1m on Linda Darnell

> Linda Darnell was signed for her looks and did her best work as women who knew exactly what those looks were worth. Start with *A Letter to Three Wives*, where she gives Lora Mae a hardness the film never asks her to soften.

A train goes past, the crockery jumps, and Linda Darnell finishes her lipstick. That is the scene from *A Letter to Three Wives* (1949) that people remember, and it holds most of what she was good at. Lora Mae Hollingsway lives beside the railway with her mother and sister, and she has decided to marry Porter Hollingsway, who owns the department store where she works. Arthur Charles Miller keeps the camera on her face while the house shakes, and she does not blink. Darnell plays a woman who has already decided.

She had been at 20th Century Fox since she was fifteen and made her first film in 1939, and for years the studio cast her as the sweet young thing, Lolita Quintero alongside Tyrone Power in *The Mark of Zorro* (1940). She said later that people got tired of those parts, and she was not wrong. The turn came in 1945: Stella, the tough waitress of Otto Preminger's *Fallen Angel*, and Netta Longdon, the manipulative music-hall singer of *Hangover Square*. *My Darling Clementine* (1946) put her opposite Henry Fonda in John Ford's Western as Chihuahua. By the end of the decade she was playing the hard, ambitious women she should have been given from the start.

What she did in her best parts was let the calculation show. Lora Mae wants money and says so, and Darnell never lets a flicker of apology into it. Paul Douglas, in his first film, plays Porter as a loud man ashamed of what he is buying, and the two of them turn a courtship into a negotiation both sides know they are having. Kay Nelson's costumes climb a rung with every scene and Darnell wears each new one as if she had always owned it. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who wrote and directed and worked with her twice, is the director who got the most out of her. We laughed at the first train and were quiet by the third, because what she was showing us was a woman who would never live in that house again, and it was not funny.

The complaint that follows her is that Fox never knew what it had, and it is fair. Through the early 1940s she was cast for her face and kept out of the harder parts by the terms of her contract, and fourteen years is a long time to spend waiting. Her career slowed in the 1950s, and she kept working in features and television until her death in 1965.

So the record is thinner than the talent. Start with *A Letter to Three Wives*, which we scored 79 and which owes much of that score to her and Douglas, then go to *Fallen Angel* and *Hangover Square* for the women she played once the studio stopped asking her to be sweet. The lipstick does not smudge. Neither, for the rest of the film, does she.

## Biography

Linda Darnell was an American film actress, born Monetta Eloyse Darnell in Dallas, Texas, on 16 October 1923. She made her screen debut in 1939 and appeared in supporting roles in 20th Century Fox productions throughout the 1940s.

She played Lora Mae Hollingsway in *A Letter to Three Wives* (1949). Other notable roles include Chihuahua in *My Darling Clementine* (1946), Lolita Quintero in *The Mark of Zorro* (1940) and Stella in *Fallen Angel* (1945). Darnell died on 10 April 1965 in Glenview, Illinois.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, geni.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these

- *A Letter to Three Wives* (1949), Fi1m 79, as Lora Mae Hollingsway — [page](https://film.one/film/a-letter-to-three-wives.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *The Song of Bernadette* (1943), Fi1m 63, as The Virgin Mary (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-song-of-bernadette.md)

## Complete filmography (52)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Showbiz Goes to War* (1982), as (archive footage)
- *Black Spurs* (1965), as Sadie
- *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as Monica Crenshaw
- *77 Sunset Strip* (1958), series, as Zina Felice
- *Zero Hour!* (1957), as Ellen Stryker
- *Wagon Train* (1957), series, as Dora Gray Fogelberry
- *Homeward Borne* (1957), as Meg Lyttleton
- *Dakota Incident* (1956), as Amy Clarke
- *White Corridors* (1956), as Ellen Barber
- *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, as Lily Martyn
- *Screen Director's Playhouse* (1955), series, as Ellen Barber
- *It Happens in Roma* (1955), as Renata Adorni
- *This Is My Love* (1954), as Vida Dove
- *Climax!* (1954), series, as Helen Randall
- *Angels of Darkness* (1954), as Lola Baldi
- *Second Chance* (1953), as Clare Shepperd, alias Clare Sinclair
- *Blackbeard, the Pirate* (1952), as Edwina Mansfield
- *Night Without Sleep* (1952), as Julie Bannon
- *Saturday Island* (1952), as Lieutenant Elizabeth Smythe
- *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, Actor
- *The Lady Pays Off* (1951), as Evelyn Walsh Warren
- *The Guy Who Came Back* (1951), as Dee Shane
- *The 13th Letter* (1951), as Denise Turner
- *Two Flags West* (1950), as Elena Kenniston
- *No Way Out* (1950), as Edie Johnson
- *Everybody Does It* (1949), as Cecil Carver
- *Slattery's Hurricane* (1949), as Mrs. Aggie Hobson
- *A Letter to Three Wives* (1949), as Lora Mae Hollingsway — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/a-letter-to-three-wives.md)
- *The Walls of Jericho* (1948), as Algeria Wedge
- *Unfaithfully Yours* (1948), as Daphne de Carter
- *Forever Amber* (1947), as Amber St. Clair
- *My Darling Clementine* (1946), as Chihuahua
- *Anna and the King of Siam* (1946), as Tuptim
- *Centennial Summer* (1946), as Edith Rogers
- *Fallen Angel* (1945), as Stella
- *The Great John L.* (1945), as Anne Livingston
- *Hangover Square* (1945), as Netta Longdon
- *Sweet and Low-Down* (1944), as Trudy Wilson
- *Summer Storm* (1944), as Olga Kuzminichna Urbenin
- *Buffalo Bill* (1944), as Dawn Starlight
- *It Happened Tomorrow* (1944), as Sylvia Smith-Stevens
- *The Song of Bernadette* (1943), as The Virgin Mary (uncredited) — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/the-song-of-bernadette.md)
- *City Without Men* (1943), as Nancy Johnson
- *The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe* (1942), as Virginia Clemm
- *Rise and Shine* (1941), as Louise Murray
- *Blood and Sand* (1941), as Carmen Espinosa
- *Chad Hanna* (1940), as Caroline Tridd Hanna
- *The Mark of Zorro* (1940), as Lolita Quintero
- *Brigham Young* (1940), as Zina Webb - The Outsider
- *Star Dust* (1940), as Carolyn Sayres
- *Day-time Wife* (1939), as Jane Norton
- *Hotel for Women* (1939), as Marcia Bromely

## Gallery

- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-c451dd557453.jpg) Linda Darnell — 20th Century Fox, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Linda_Darnell_-_publicity.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): primo piano di Renata](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-a263b73d5ece.png) Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): primo piano di Renata — Giuseppe Amato (director), Excelsa Film & Omnium International du Film (production), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Primo_piano_di_Renata.png/1280px-Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Primo_piano_di_Renata.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Robert Newton & Linda Darnell in Blackbeard the Pirate - cropped screenshot (1952)](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-c0eac885adfa.jpg) Robert Newton & Linda Darnell in Blackbeard the Pirate - cropped screenshot (1952) — film screenshot (RKO), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Blackbeard_the_Pirate_%281952%29_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): la promessa di matrimonio](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-cf1695ca91ee.png) Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): la promessa di matrimonio — Giuseppe Amato (director), Excelsa Film & Omnium International du Film (production), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Promessa_di_matrimonio.png/1280px-Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Promessa_di_matrimonio.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-87748b721507.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-472b8463d164.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-02397a0fb566.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): Renata dall'amante](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-a4295cf8505d.png) Dal film Gli ultimi cinque minuti (1955): Renata dall'amante — Giuseppe Amato (director), Excelsa Film & Omnium International du Film (production), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Renata_dall%27amante.png/1280px-Gli_ultimi_cinque_minuti-Renata_dall%27amante.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photo of Virginia Field (left) and Linda Darnell from a presentation of "White Corridors" on Screen Directors Playhouse. (1956)](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-a2ebcccf1c82.jpg) Photo of Virginia Field (left) and Linda Darnell from a presentation of "White Corridors" on Screen Directors Playhouse. (1956) — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Virginia_Field_Linda_Darnell_1956.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-0ff0c5fab520.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-48dc4141aded.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Linda Darnell](https://film.one/media/person/1234361/gallery-f92ab369a93e.jpg) Linda Darnell — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/linda-darnell