Actress. She is best remembered for her numerous roles in the 1940s and 1950s, including such films as "Star Dust" (1940), "The Mark of Zorro" (1940), "Hangover Square" (1945), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and "Forever Amber" (1947). Born Monetta Eloyse Darnell in Dallas, Texas, one of five children to a post office worker. Pretty, talented, and rapidly maturing, she grew up fast, beginning a modeling career at age 11 by lying that she was really 16 years old. At age 13, she began to appear on the stage in small theater groups. When talent scouts asked her to go to Hollywood following a Dallas audition, she quickly was sent home when the film studio found out her true age, and was told not to return until she was at least 15. After two more years and several more local theater appearances in Dallas, Linda returned to Hollywood and began her acting career. Her first role was that of Marcia Bromley in "A Hotel for Women" (1939). Only 16 years old at the time, she became one of the youngest of Hollywood leading ladies. Her next film was "Day Time Wife" (1939), again showing off how mature she looked, despite her tender age. Other films followed, rising her to star status. She made a hit in both "Handover Square" (1945) and in "My Darling Clementine" (1946). She reached the peak of her fame in the role of Amber, opposite Cornell Wilde, in "Forever Amber" (1947). Her final appearance in the movies was as Sadie in "Black Spurs" (1965). She was married and divorced three times: to Peverell Marley (a camera man - 1944 to 1952), to Phillip Liebmann (a brewer - 1954 to 1955), and to airline pilot Merle Roy Robertson (1957 to 1962). On April 10, 1965, she died of burns suffered in a house fire at the home of her former secretary, in the Chicago suburb of Glenview. The house caught fire in the early morning hours and she was trapped while trying to escape, being burned over 90 percent of her body. She died that afternoon in the Cook County Hospital at the age of 41. Oddly enough, she was watching the film "Star Dust" (1940) that evening - the film was one that set her career into motion. She is buried in the Adams family plot of her daughter, Charlotte Marley Adams.
Actress. She is best remembered for her numerous roles in the 1940s and 1950s, including such films as "Star Dust" (1940), "The Mark of Zorro" (1940), "Hangover Square" (1945), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and "Forever Amber" (1947). Born Monetta Eloyse Darnell in Dallas, Texas, one of five children to a post office worker. Pretty, talented, and rapidly maturing, she grew up fast, beginning a modeling career at age 11 by lying that she was really 16 years old. At age 13, she began to appear on the stage in small theater groups. When talent scouts asked her to go to Hollywood following a Dallas audition, she quickly was sent home when the film studio found out her true age, and was told not to return until she was at least 15. After two more years and several more local theater appearances in Dallas, Linda returned to Hollywood and began her acting career. Her first role was that of Marcia Bromley in "A Hotel for Women" (1939). Only 16 years old at the time, she became one of the youngest of Hollywood leading ladies. Her next film was "Day Time Wife" (1939), again showing off how mature she looked, despite her tender age. Other films followed, rising her to star status. She made a hit in both "Handover Square" (1945) and in "My Darling Clementine" (1946). She reached the peak of her fame in the role of Amber, opposite Cornell Wilde, in "Forever Amber" (1947). Her final appearance in the movies was as Sadie in "Black Spurs" (1965). She was married and divorced three times: to Peverell Marley (a camera man - 1944 to 1952), to Phillip Liebmann (a brewer - 1954 to 1955), and to airline pilot Merle Roy Robertson (1957 to 1962). On April 10, 1965, she died of burns suffered in a house fire at the home of her former secretary, in the Chicago suburb of Glenview. The house caught fire in the early morning hours and she was trapped while trying to escape, being burned over 90 percent of her body. She died that afternoon in the Cook County Hospital at the age of 41. Oddly enough, she was watching the film "Star Dust" (1940) that evening - the film was one that set her career into motion. She is buried in the Adams family plot of her daughter, Charlotte Marley Adams.
Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson
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