LINDA CRISTAL

27 Jun

(23 February 1931 - 27 June 2020)

The Argentinian actress Linda Cristal, who has died aged 89, was born Marta Victoria Moya Peggo Burges. She studied voice and piano and was discovered by a producer holidaying in Mexico. Under her new name, she made films in Mexico until her US debut in Comanche (1951) with Dana Andrews. After decorating various films, including The Fiend Who Walked the West, Strictly for Pleasure and Cry Tough, she made The Alamo (1960) with John Wayne and John Ford’s Two Rode Together. Real fame arrived with the part of Victoria Cannon in nearly 100 episodes of The High Chaparral (below) from 1967 to 1971. After that it was more TV and the odd film until a stint in General Hospital in 1988. Meanwhile, she became very rich in real estate and import/export. Her first marriage was annulled after five days, her second ended in divorce, as did her third to the actor Yale Wexler, with whom she has two children.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

LINDA CRISTAL

JULIAN CURRY

JOEL SCHUMACHER