Linda Cristal

Linda Cristal (pronounced "Cree-stal", IPA [kristal]); born Marta Victoria Moya Burges; February 23, 1934, Rosario, Argentina) is an Argentine-American actress. She has appeared in a number of Western films during 1950s, before winning a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the 1958 comedy film The Perfect Furlough. She went on to roles in Cry Tough (1959), Legions of the Nile (1959), The Pharaohs' Woman (1960), The Alamo (1960), Two Rode Together (1961), Slave Girls of Sheba (1963), and Panic in the City (1968).

From 1967 to 1971, Cristal starred as Victoria Cannon in the NBC series The High Chaparral. For her performance she won Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 1970, and received two Emmy Award nominations in 1968 and 1971.

Life and career

Leif Erickson and Cristal in The High Chaparral

Her first English-language role was the part of Margarita in the 1956 Western film Comanche, directed by George Sherman and starring Dana Andrews. In 1960, John Wayne asked her to play the part of Flaca in his epic The Alamo. In the 1960-61 television season, Cristal appeared as a female matador in NBC's The Tab Hunter Show. In 1961, she starred with James Stewart in the western Two Rode Together. She guest-starred in the 1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "City Beneath the Sea." She semi-retired from the business after that to raise her two children.

She was coaxed out of retirement when she became the last cast member to be added to the NBC series The High Chaparral (1967-1971). She later appeared in such popular television series as Bonanza, Barnaby Jones and The Love Boat. After that, she took assignments only as the notion struck her favorably, such as the Charles Bronson 1974 action film Mr. Majestyk.

Selected filmography

• Comanche (1956)
• The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958)
• The Last of The Fast Guns (1958)
• Cry Tough (1959)
• Legions of the Nile (1959)
• The Pharaohs' Woman (1960)
• The Alamo (1960)
• The Tab Hunter Show (TV; 1960-61)
• Two Rode Together (1961)
• Slave Girls of Sheba (1963)
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV; 1964; episode "City Beneath the Sea")
• The High Chaparral (TV; 1967-71)
• Panic in the City (1968)
• Cade's County (TV; 1971; episode "A Gun for Billy")
• Mr. Majestyk (1974)
• El chofer (1974)
• The Dead Don't Die (1975)
• Love and the Midnight Auto Supply (1977)
• Condominium (1980)
• The Love Boat (TV; 1981; episode "The Duel")