Linda Christian
Encyclopedia
Linda Christian was a Mexican
movie actress, who appeared in Mexican
and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller
Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids
(1948). She is also noted for being the first Bond girl
, appearing in a 1954 TV adaptation of the James Bond
novel Casino Royale
. In 1963 she starred in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "An Out for Oscar".
, Tamaulipas
, Mexico
, a daughter of Dutch
engineer and Royal Dutch Shell
executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter (1904–1981), and his Mexican
-born wife, the former Blanca Rosa Vorhauer (born 1901), who was of Spanish
, German
and French
descent. The Welter family moved a great deal during Christian's youth, living everywhere from South America and Europe, to the Middle East and Africa. As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Christian became an accomplished polyglot
with the ability to speak fluent French, German, Dutch, Spanish, English
, Italian
, and even a bit of haphazard Arabic and Russian
.
Christian had three younger siblings, a sister, actress Ariadna Gloria Welter
(1930–1998), and two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter (b. 1924) and Edward Albert Welter (b. 1932).
, who became her lover, and she was persuaded by him to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career. Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer
's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM.
Her stage name was invented by Flynn, who gave her the surname of his character in Mutiny on the Bounty.
She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy Up In Arms, co-starring Danny Kaye
and Dinah Shore
. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye's own first film. This film was followed by Holiday In Mexico (1946), Green Dolphin Street
(1947), and what was perhaps her best-known film, Tarzan and the Mermaids
(1948). She was the subject of a well-known photograph published in the January 1, 1949, issue of Vogue
.
d) the popular movie actor Tyrone Power
from 1949 to 1956. The couple married in Rome, Italy, at Santa Francesca Romana church; Christian wore a formfitting gold-damask gown, and the church was decorated with two thousand 'Esther' carnations. http://tyforum.bravepages.com/artc/oggi-2-3-49.html She and Power were the parents of singer Romina Power
and actress Taryn Power
. Romina was one half of the Italian singing duo Al Bano and Romina Power
.
A month after she divorced Tyrone Power, Christian was seen with Spanish athlete Alfonso de Portago
, who was married to American Carroll de Portago (later Carroll Petrie). Carroll had recently given birth to "Fon's" second child Anthony. De Portago was also dating model Dorian Leigh
, mother of his recently born illegitimate son Kim. Linda was photographed with de Portago at the 1957 Mille Miglia
car race. The photo shows Christian leaning in to kiss Fon before he drove off and crashed his Ferrari, killing himself, his navigator Ed Nelson and at least ten spectators in the process. The press labeled the photo, "The Kiss of Death." De Portago was 28 years old. Her ex-husband, Tyrone Power, died the following year of a heart attack at the age of 44.
Christian was later married to the Rome
-based British actor (and movie heartthrob) Edmund Purdom
.
On several occasions Christian and Power were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded. The most notable opportunity to co-star together came in 1953, when they were offered leading roles in From Here to Eternity
. Power did not wish to do the film, rejected the offer, and the roles went to Donna Reed
and Montgomery Clift
.
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
movie actress, who appeared in Mexican
Mexican cinema
The history of Mexican cinema goes back to the ending of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, when several enthusiasts of the new medium documented historical events – most particularly the Mexican Revolution – and produced some movies that have only recently been rediscovered...
and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids
Tarzan and the Mermaids
Tarzan and the Mermaids is a 1948 action film based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Directed by Robert Florey, it was the last of the Tarzan movies to star Johnny Weissmuller in the title role.-Plot summary:...
(1948). She is also noted for being the first Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
, appearing in a 1954 TV adaptation of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel Casino Royale
Casino Royale (Climax!)
Casino Royale is a 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre...
. In 1963 she starred in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "An Out for Oscar".
Early life
Christian was born as Blanca Rosa Welter in TampicoTampico
Tampico is a city and port in the state of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, directly north across the border from Veracruz. Tampico is the third largest city in Tamaulipas, and counts with a population of 309,003. The Metropolitan area of...
, Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, a daughter of Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
engineer and Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter (1904–1981), and his Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
-born wife, the former Blanca Rosa Vorhauer (born 1901), who was of Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
descent. The Welter family moved a great deal during Christian's youth, living everywhere from South America and Europe, to the Middle East and Africa. As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Christian became an accomplished polyglot
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
with the ability to speak fluent French, German, Dutch, Spanish, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and even a bit of haphazard Arabic and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
Christian had three younger siblings, a sister, actress Ariadna Gloria Welter
Ariadne Welter
Ariadne Welter was a Mexican movie actress of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She appeared in the Luis Buñuel film The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz...
(1930–1998), and two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter (b. 1924) and Edward Albert Welter (b. 1932).
Career
In her youth Christian's only aspiration was to become a physician. After she graduated from secondary school she had a fortuitous meeting with her screen idol Errol FlynnErrol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, who became her lover, and she was persuaded by him to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career. Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM.
Her stage name was invented by Flynn, who gave her the surname of his character in Mutiny on the Bounty.
She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy Up In Arms, co-starring Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
and Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye's own first film. This film was followed by Holiday In Mexico (1946), Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 historic drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Plot summary:In the 1840s, two sisters fall in love with the same man...
(1947), and what was perhaps her best-known film, Tarzan and the Mermaids
Tarzan and the Mermaids
Tarzan and the Mermaids is a 1948 action film based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Directed by Robert Florey, it was the last of the Tarzan movies to star Johnny Weissmuller in the title role.-Plot summary:...
(1948). She was the subject of a well-known photograph published in the January 1, 1949, issue of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
.
Marriages and relationships
Christian's fame, however, was largely derived from having married (and divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d) the popular movie actor Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
from 1949 to 1956. The couple married in Rome, Italy, at Santa Francesca Romana church; Christian wore a formfitting gold-damask gown, and the church was decorated with two thousand 'Esther' carnations. http://tyforum.bravepages.com/artc/oggi-2-3-49.html She and Power were the parents of singer Romina Power
Romina Power
Romina Francesca Power is an American-born singer and actress.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Romina Power is the eldest daughter of American actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, actress Linda Christian....
and actress Taryn Power
Taryn Power
Taryn Stephanie Power is an American actress and the younger daughter of the actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, Mexican actress Linda Christian.Deutsch, Linda . , Lewiston Evening Journal...
. Romina was one half of the Italian singing duo Al Bano and Romina Power
Al Bano and Romina Power
Al Bano and Romina Power were an Italian pop music duo formed by then-married couple Albano Carrisi and Romina Power. They are best known for their songs "Felicità", "Sempre sempre", "Nostalgia Canaglia", and "Libertà"...
.
A month after she divorced Tyrone Power, Christian was seen with Spanish athlete Alfonso de Portago
Alfonso de Portago
Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, Marquis of Portago, best known as Alfonso de Portago was a racing driver from Spain.-Notable heritage:Portago was 6' tall and weighed 170 pounds . He was educated in France...
, who was married to American Carroll de Portago (later Carroll Petrie). Carroll had recently given birth to "Fon's" second child Anthony. De Portago was also dating model Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh
Dorian Leigh was an American model and one of the earliest modelling icons of the fashion industry. She is considered one of the first supermodels and was well known in the United States and Europe.-Biography:Dorian Leigh Parker was born in San Antonio, Texas, to George and Elizabeth Parker...
, mother of his recently born illegitimate son Kim. Linda was photographed with de Portago at the 1957 Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....
car race. The photo shows Christian leaning in to kiss Fon before he drove off and crashed his Ferrari, killing himself, his navigator Ed Nelson and at least ten spectators in the process. The press labeled the photo, "The Kiss of Death." De Portago was 28 years old. Her ex-husband, Tyrone Power, died the following year of a heart attack at the age of 44.
Christian was later married to the Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
-based British actor (and movie heartthrob) Edmund Purdom
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School...
.
On several occasions Christian and Power were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded. The most notable opportunity to co-star together came in 1953, when they were offered leading roles in From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
. Power did not wish to do the film, rejected the offer, and the roles went to Donna Reed
Donna Reed
Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
and Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
.