M.W. Godwin Linda Darnell Collection

Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress, whose career spanned the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Raised by a stage mother in Texas, Darnell ("Tweedles" to her family) was groomed for possible stardom. After some success at local modeling competitions in Texas, Darnell was presented to a 20th-Century Fox talent scout by her mother in 1937. Impressed by Darnell, the scout reported her to the studio, who paid for her to travel to Los Angeles for a screentest (Fox would adapt her story into the 1940 film Star Dust). Mistakenly believing Darnell to be 18, the studio sent her home when they discovered her true age: 14. Undeterred, and with influence from her mother, Darnell entered a radio talent contest sponsored by rival studio RKO-Radio Pictures. Returning to Los Angeles as a finalist in the competition, Fox decided to offer her a contract, and she would film her first starring role at 15 the following year: Elsa Maxwell's Hotel for Women (1939). Darnell would stay a Fox contract star into the 1950s, where she specialized in playing woman with a devious edge. After her contract with Fox ended, Darnell did individual films for both international and Hollywood productions. Later in life she faced financial troubles, alcoholism, and several failed marriages. Attempts to enter television had limited success, but she did have some success on stage in her later years. In 1965, Darnell was badly burned in a house fire and died shortly afterwards from her injuries.