07/20/2023
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. Darnell was born in Dallas, Texas, as one of four children (excluding her mother's two children from an earlier marriage) to postal clerk Calvin Roy Darnell and the former Margaret "Pearl" Brown. One of her maternal great-grandparents was Cherokee. She was the younger sister of Undeen and the older sister of Monte Maloya and Calvin Roy, Jr.. Her parents were not happily married, and she grew up as a shy and reserved girl in a house of domestic turmoil.Starting at an early age, her mother, Pearl, had big plans for Darnell in the entertainment industry.She believed that Linda was her only child with potential as an actress and ignored the rearing of her other children.Unlike her husband, Pearl had a notorious reputation in the neighborhood of being "aggressive" or "downright mean." Despite some financial problems, Darnell insisted that she had had a joyful childhood and loving parents.Darnell was a model by the age of 11 and was acting on the stage by the age of 13. She initially started modeling to earn money for the household and performed mostly in beauty contests.In November 1937, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox arrived in Dallas looking for new faces. Encouraged by her mother, Darnell met him, and after a few months he invited her for a screen test in Hollywood. Arriving in California alongside Mary Healy and Dorris Bowdon in February 1938, Darnell initially was rejected by film studios and was sent home because she was declared "too young."
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