Argentine-born Hollywood star Linda Cristal died on Saturday at the age of 89 at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She had a successful career in Mexico and later in Hollywood, playing different roles in cinema and television, particularly in westerns. Cristal was the recipient of two Golden Globes and was nominated twice for an Emmy Award.
Born Marta Victoria Moya on February 23, 1931, in Buenos Aires to a French father and Italian mother, she studied voice and piano at the Conservatorio Franklin in Uruguay. While vacationing in Mexico, she was discovered by a film producer and became a rising star for her roles in several local productions, including Cuando levanta la niebla (Emilio Fernández, 1952), The Magnificent Beast / La bestia magnifica (Chano Urueta, 1953), Forbidden Fruit / Fruto de tentación (Alfredo B. Crevenna, 1953), Genius and Figure / Genio y figura (Fernando Méndez, 1953), With the Devil in the Body / Con el diablo en el cuerpo (Raúl de Anda, 1954), and Seven Sins / Siete pecados (José Díaz Morales, 1959)
She made her Hollywood debut with a small role as Margarita in the western Comanche (George Sherman, 1956) starring Dana Andrews. Two years later she played the role of Maria O'Reilly in George Sherman’s The Last of the Fast Guns (1958), followed by a depiction of Ellen Hardy in Gordon Douglas’ The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958). Cristal was named "Motion Picture Sweater Queen of 1958" by the Knitted Outerwear Association of America.
He career breakthrough came with her performance as Sandra Roca, an Argentine bombshell, opposite Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in Blake Edwards’ 1958 comedy film The Perfect Furlough, for which she received the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year.
The Perfect Furlough by Blake Edwards
She then starred as “La Flaca” with John Wayne in The Alamo (1960) directed by the actor, and with James Stewart in John Ford’s Two Rode Together (1961). Other American film credits include Cry Tough (Paul Stanley, 1959), Legions of the Nile (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1959), The Pharaohs' Woman (Viktor Tourjansky, 1960), Panic in the City (Eddie Davis, 1968).
Between 1967 and 1971 she participated in four seasons of the popular television series The High Chaparral, earning two Primetime Emmy nominations and winning her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama in 1970. Cristal also participated in the television series Bonanza, and during the seventies and early eighties made numerous guest appearances in various shows including The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. She also participated in a handful of television soap operas in the U.S., Argentina, and Mexico, including General Hospital, El chofer, and Rossé.
She also played the Mexican migrant worker and union leader Nancy Chavez in Charles Bronson's action film Mr. Majestyk (Richard Fleischer, 1974). Her last film credit was in the 1977 comedy film Love and the Midnight Auto Supply by James Polakof.
