OTD - April 9, 1965 - Actress Linda Darnell died after fire swept through the Carriage Hill house of her former agent, where they had been watching "Star Dust," a 1940 film she starred in, on TV. Darnell's life came to a tragic end on April 10, 1965, as the result of burns from a fire. [1]:117 She continued to meet with him occasionally until production of The Barefoot Contessa (1954) started. Suddenly you were fired and no one would hire you at any figure remotely comparable to your previous salary. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Little did they know, this quiet and peaceful evening was about to see a devastating interruption. "[1]:20. For one, Darnell realized that although she felt drawn to Liebmanns deep pockets, she wasnt actually physically attracted to him. Linda went from being a child model to acting in theatre and film at a young age. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. There, Darnell fell ill and had to be quarantined for several weeks. In 1956, she made her TV debut in an episode of 'Celebrity Playhouse'. After The Lady Pays Off, Darnell headed the cast of Saturday Island (1952), which was filmed on location in Jamaica in late 1951. Darnell refused to let Marley get away with this scot-free, so she decided to get her revenge. I'd crammed thirty years into ten, and while it was exciting and I would do it over again, I still know I missed out on my girlhood, the fun, little things that now seem important. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. The character in the Chekhov film is a wild sort of she-devil, which any actress would go miles to play. Having starred in such television programs as VEGA$ and Spenser: For Hire. [1]:29 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. "[1]:72. In many of those films, she starred alongside Hollywood heartthrobs like Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda. Be sure to stick around to the end of the video. She died at the young age of 41. It was only her second film, but it set the tone for her entire exploitative career as an ingenue. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Helpful hints for your holiday party per Joan Crawford: The best parties are a wild mixture of people. When it came to defining their turbulent relationship, Darnell and Mankiewicz were not on the same page. By the mid-1960s, she had started appearing as a nightclub singer. [1]:55 Following an intense fight between her parents in 1942, Darnell left home with her younger sister Monte and never returned. [1]:6364. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. After successfully accomplishing an image rehab with Summer Storm Darnell starred in all kinds of films, including westerns. After her death, a man who said he was Darnell's fiance identified her body. Patty broke her leg from the fall, but she made it to safety. Get the best viral stories straight into your inbox! Suddenly you dismiss and no one will hire you at any figure comparable to your previous salary. Darnell, on the other hand, had other ideas. "Linda Darnell Scores New Hit In 'Star Dust'". [1]:99, Darnell worked long hours at the studio during filming, and according to her older sister she started loathing Preminger, which did not ease production. Linda Darnell died on April 10, 1965 at the age of 41. Because Darnell and Marley were unable to have children, they adopted a daughter in 1948, Charlotte Mildred "Lola" Marley (born January 5, 1948), the actress's only child. of. The only thing I knew how to do was be a movie star. Linda Darnell On April 10, 1965, Hollywood actress Linda Darnell died in a house fire. According to reports at the time, the Hurds wanted the most dreadful ritualistic thing of depositing her ashes. Darnells family disliked the idea so much that they decided not to follow her final wishes. I'd had the fame and money every girl dreams aboutand the romance. ", Although originally wanting to become an actress on the stage, Darnell was featured in a Gateway to Hollywood talent search and initially landed a contract at RKO Pictures. But if Zanuck was a toxic figure in Darnells life, her mother Pearl still had him beat. Facts Verse His track record included a long list of the most famous names in Hollywood, and it didnt matter to him if the women he dated already had partners. Brimming with excitement, Darnell believed that her newly acquired freedom would allow her to build a career in Europe. . Facts Verse The fire occurred at the house of her former secretary. The landowner of the New Mexico ranch refused to have Darnells ashes scattered on his land. Taking a page out of her mothers book one more time, Darnell made Robertson rue the day he ever met her. Aside from her co-starring role opposite Richard Widmark, Stephen McNally and Sidney Poitier in the noir No Way Out (1950), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, which she later called "the only good picture I ever made," her later films were rarely noteworthy, and her appearances were increasingly sporadic. Predictably, it was one tense setand a demanding one too. Her secretarys daughter had already jumped from the second-floor window and her secretary was still on the ledge, calling for help. Continue with Recommended Cookies. He was also expertly manipulative, casting her in good roles whenever she proved pleasant and agreeable. [3] Loretta Young was originally assigned to play the role, but she demanded a salary which the studio would not give her. Darnell became one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, and she now had the freedom to select her own roles. Later the same year, Mankiewicz left her to focus on his own career, and as a result, she almost took her own life. On April 10, 1965, Linda Darnell died from burns she received in a house fire at the age of 41. In the end, Darnell had to shamefully return to her husbandand to call that homecoming awkward would be an understatement. Linda Darnell would have been 41 years old at the time of death or 91 years old today. Lindas body was cremated according to her wishes. In this video, well look at Linda Darnells rise to fame, some of her best films, and her tragic death. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. What would she have looked like? Lola wondered. But when she looked back to make sure Darnell was right behind her, there was nobody there. Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. Moreover, as if her reputation wasnt bad enough, in 1940, Pearl made a shocking accusation against her husband that turned Darnells life into a nightmare. When he left in late 1949 for on-location shooting of All About Eve (1950), Darnell fell into a depression and almost committed suicide. Darnell was watching Star Dust (1940) on television, on the night of the fire. In truth, Darnellsrealproblems all stemmed from her toxic workplace. "[1]:17 Despite some financial problems, Darnell insisted that she had had a joyful childhood and loving parents. She later consented to take on the glamor role, but she refused to bleach her hair for it. While it's true that Curtis and her daughter managed to get out of the fire, some of have stated that Darnell had evaded the house fire, only to go back inside to rescue her friend's daughter, who she thought was still in the house. Shes unfamiliar to all but the biggest movie buffs today. Before the death of Linda Darnell, she wanted her ashes to be scattered over a New Mexico ranch owned by the Hurd family but a dispute with the landowners caused problems. Linda dies tragically on April 10, 1965, at the age of 41, when she catches in a fire at her former secretarys home. She was put on a diet and assigned a voice coach to learn to speak with a British accent. Following a five-minute hearing, Darnell was granted a divorce and custody of Charlotte, while Marley was to pay $75 a month for child support.[28]. Alas, not even a darling baby girl could change her mind. GLENVIEW, Ill., April 9 (AP) -- Linda Darnell, the actress, was burned in an early morning fire today that damaged the home of friends where she was staying. No one expects to last forever in this business. However, they never expected this so-called punishment to backfire. Darnell expects to be in an Academy Award for her role in A Letter to Three Wives but it did not happen. [1]:114 Darnell's romance with Mankiewicz influenced her personal life. Linda Darnell, the woman called "almost too beautiful," left behind an estate of only $10,000, which went to her sixteen-year-old girl. Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIIIs first wife and longest-lasting Queen of England. 3. I am told that when surface beauty is gone, the real woman emerges. Production demanded a lot from Darnell. She was willing to divorce her husband to marry him, but Hughes didnt want to take their relationship that far and rejected any of her serious advances. How old is Linda Darnell? [1]:55 Darnell and Power were cast together for the second time owing to the box office success of Day-Time Wife, and they became a highly publicized onscreen couple, which prompted Darryl F. Zanuck to add 18 more romantic scenes to Brigham Young. At 11, she was modeling clothes, giving her age as 16. [1]:134, In 1946, Darnell filmed two pictures simultaneously, the expensively budgeted Anna and the King of Siam and Preminger's Centennial Summer. Linda Darnell died on April 10, 1965 at the age of 41. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. Darnells gorgeous features were both a blessing and a curse. In an interview she said: People got tired of seeing the sweet young things I was playing and I landed at the bottom of the roller coaster. 1.5k Views. The series make millions of viewers [] More, The Tragic Death of Linda Darnell, the Girl with the Perfect Face, Dramatic Celebrity Weight Loss Transformations Revealed, The Gruesome Side of Snow White that Disney Doesnt Show You, Scientists Discovered Evidence That Exposes An Ancient Lie About Woolly Mammoths, Handlers Thought This Owl Was Male For 23 Years Then He Laid An Egg, This Baby Elephant Decided To Spend His Last Days Alongside This Creature, Woman Adpots Tiny, Adorable Puppy. The next seven years aren't going to be the same. [19], In 1946, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated movie Forever Amber, based on a bestselling historical novel that was denounced as being immoral at that time. She was also getting adventurous with her love life. Her mother, Margaret Pearl Brown, had two children from a previous marriage before she married Darnells father, Calvin Roy Darnell. Olga Kuzminichna Urbenin was a seductress and a femme fatale, and Darnell welcomed the challenge of playing her with open arms. Life magazine even claimed she looked 22, not 16, and called her the most physically perfect girl in Hollywood.. Badly burned over 90% of her body she died the following day in the hospital. [21] Darnell replaced British actress Peggy Cummins in July 1946 at a cost of $350,000. My mom never told me how her best friend died. [1]:7071. She was 41 years old. It was the only time that she had to live up to this part of her contract, although she was released from it in September 1952.[25]. [] This is one picture on which I am setting much store for the future. [12] Variety said: "Miss Darnell displays a wealth of youthful charm and personality that confirms studio efforts to build her to a draw personality. At home in Dallas I used to sprawl on the lawn and dream about the nice, easy time the screen stars must be having in Hollywood, but the last two months have taught me quite another story. She tells reporters, My first seven years in Hollywood are a series of discouraging struggles for me. But of course, Darnell was far too stubborn to take this advice to heart. She had moved to Pennsylvania and given birth to her own children and had Lindas ashes interred in the Adams family plot. Where did Linda Darnell die? After the remains had been in storage for ten years, her daughter asked that they be interred at the Union Hill Cemetery, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the family plot of her son-in-law. In 1946, during production of Centennial Summer, she repeatedly met with Howard Hughes. In 1975, Lola finally put her mother to rest, reliving her grief all over again. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The character Darnell played in Summer Storm was nothing like the good-natured and innocent roles she was used to playing. While Robert Urich was famous for doing battle with tough foes on the screen. Davis also contended that there was no evidence due to the death of Linda darnell was in any way responsible for the blaze. But Hughes had a terrible reputation and when Darnell fell for him, she also stepped right into the path of oncoming danger. On one hand, 20th Century Fox struggled to find her new and exciting roles. On April 10, 1965, Darnell died from burns she received in a fire at the house of her former secretary. The fire starts in the living room of the house and Darnell traps on the second floor by heat and smoke. From a money pit 100 feet deep to Shakespearean manuscripts, the legendary finds on Oak Island have kept it in the news for centuries. She explained, In pictures youre built up by everyoneeveryone says youre wonderful. Darnell's life came to a tragic end on April 10, 1965, as the result of burns from a fire. Her casting was a result of a campaign for stronger roles. Before she even got a chance to turn her life around, the Girl With The Perfect Face met an end so horrificits unforgettable. Miss Darnell, 43, w'as rushed to Skokie Valley Community Hospital. . Before the death of Linda Darnell, she was often described as the girl with the perfect face because of her astonishing beauty. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? But there was just one problem. Popular, by February 28, 2022, 7:19 pm, by During the release of the latter, she was on location in Monument Valley for the filming of the John Ford Western My Darling Clementine (1946), playing a role for which she lost 12 pounds. Owing to a delay in the middle of production, she was sent back to Hollywood and there accepted an offer from Howard Hughes to star in RKO's 3-D film Second Chance (1953), filmed in Mexico. Soon after leaving 20th Century Fox, Darnell had an immediate change of heart and came to resent the studio for letting her go instead of holding on to her. The film made Darnell nostalgic, and she started reminiscing to her hosts about the peak of her career in Hollywood. Even after Darnell made a name for herself in Hollywood, her mother was still nagging her and watching her every career move. August 20, 2021, 4:36 pm, by For a while, that is. Before her death, Darnell had expressed a wish to have her ashes dispersed over a ranch in New Mexico. First, to cinematographer J. Peverell Marley from 1944 to 1952. Linda Darnell was just another name on the list of women Howard Hughes pursued, and he certainly had that reputation as he went after many a Hollywood actress, Ava Gardner to name just one. She was the middle child of four siblings. When did Linda Darnell die? In her childhood, it was evident she would be ravishingly beautiful. I had no great talent, and I didn't want to be a movie star particularly. In 1940, during the shooting of Star Dust, Darnell for a short time dated teen idol Mickey Rooney. The show began airing in 1957, and Guy received his role after auditioning for Walt Disney personally. [16] Zanuck insisted that she take the role, but she was replaced by Ann Rutherford after 12 days of shooting. I had no great talent, and I didn't want to be a movie star particularly, but Mother had always wanted it for herself, and I guess she attained it through me. Vote your favorites, and dont forget to share. Today Darnell is not remembered as well as many of her less-talented contemporaries, but an examination of her career reveals a gifted beauty whose steamy noir persona made her a tragic, unforgettable entry in . However, she soon learned that venturing out on her own wasnt going to be as easy as shed thought. Tired of her loveless marriage with Liebmann, Darnell filed for divorce on grounds of incompatibility. Darnell is sure it will be her ticket to stardom. Darnells contract with Twentieth Century Fox ended in 1952 and she found herself in the unfortunate position of being adrift in Hollywood, with good roles becoming harder to come by. She initially started modeling to earn money for the household[3] and performed mostly in beauty contests. The studio asked the FBI to protect the actress, and eventually a 17-year-old high school student was arrested for the crime. Facts Verse Linda Darnell is one of the most recognizable faces on the silver screen in the forties. The most physically perfect girl in Hollywood grew up to be distrustful of others, and of their compliments. Matters changed when she was named one of the four most beautiful women in Hollywood along with Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, and Gene Tierney in a 1944 edition of Look. Not long after adopting her daughter with Marley, Darnell fell for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the director of her most critically acclaimed film, A Letter To Three Wives. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. You believe what people around you say. Unlike her husband, Pearl had a notorious reputation in the neighborhood of being "aggressive" or "downright mean. In truth, he was a total creep and pursued Darnell even though he knew she was underage. Were they indeed terrifying? Absolutely. [26] (At the time of her death a few months later, she was preparing to perform in another play.). Buffs today, Hollywood actress Linda Darnell died on April 10, 1965, fell... In 1940, during the shooting of star Dust, Darnell for a while, that.... Idea so much that they decided not to follow her final wishes beloved figure Darnell would been... 'S romance with Mankiewicz influenced her personal life, calling for help the FBI to protect actress... 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