Linda Christian was a Mexican film 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.
She is also noted for being the first Bond girl, appearing in a 1954
television adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale. 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 Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a daughter of Dutch engineer and Royal
Dutch Shell executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter, and his Mexican-born wife, the
former Blanca Rosa Vorhauer, 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,
and two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter and Edward Albert Welter.
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 Flynn, 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 Fletcher Christian of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.
Flynn had played Fletcher Christian in a 1933 Australian film.
In his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn states that immediately
after Linda Christian's screen test, he offered to pay for her to have a couple
of crooked teeth fixed. When he got a whopping bill, he discovered that she
had taken the opportunity to undergo major cosmetic dentistry. Years later,
when he met her again, he said, "Smile, baby – I want to see those choppers:
they took their first bite out of me." 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, Green Dolphin Street, and what was perhaps her best-known
film, Tarzan and the Mermaids. She was the subject of a well-known photograph
published in the January 1, 1949, issue of Vogue.
Christian was the first Bond girl to appear on screen, playing Valerie Mathis
in the 1954 TV adaptation of Casino Royale, beating Ursula Andress to the
screen by eight years. In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm
Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Marriages and relationships Christian's fame, however, was largely
derived from having been married to the popular screen idol Tyrone Power. 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. 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 racing driver Alfonso de Portago, who was
married to American Carroll de Portago. 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 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 want to do the film and rejected the offer. The roles went to
Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift. Linda Christian died on July 22, 2011, at the
age of 87. Selected filmography
The Rock of Souls Up in Arms
Holiday in Mexico Green Dolphin Street
Tarzan and the Mermaids The Happy Time
Athena Thunderstorm
Peter Voss, Hero of the Day The House of the Seven Hawks
The Devil's Hand The V.I.P.s
The Beauty Jungle The Moment of Truth
Bibliography Christian, Linda. Linda, My Own Story.
New York: Crown Publishers. References
Sources Parla, Paul and Mitchell, Charles P..
Screen Sirens Scream!. McFarland. ISBN 0786445874.
Linda Christian at Find a Grave External links
Linda Christian at the Internet Movie Database