H
ER NAME WAS MARTA Victoria Monya Peggo Burges. She was born on February 23rd, 1931, in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina. Her father was Antonio Monya. He was a publisher. When she was five years old, he moved the family to Montevideo, Uruguay, after he ran afoul of the ruling elite. He had gotten on the wrong side of a political squabble. Both of her parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning, when she was thirteen, in what might have been a suicide pact. In 1950, she married Tito Gomez, but the marriage was annulled after five days. Thoughts of joining a convent and becoming a nun entered her head. Then in 1951, while vacationing in Mexico, she was discovered by Miguel Alemon Velasco and signed to a long-term contract. Marta adopted the name Linda Cristal and became one of Mexico’s rising stars. Her first two roles were uncredited in 1952’s Cuando Levanta La Niebla and 1953’s Forbidden Fruit. She made a string of westerns in Mexico, With the Devil in the Body in 1954, El 7 Leguas in 1955, La Venganza del Diablo 1955, Enemigos 1956 and El
Diablo Desaparece in 1957. Early in her career she set her sights on Hollywood and added English as her fourth language. She was fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian. Her first American film was in Comanche with Dana Andrews, Kent Smith and Mike Mazruki. Peace talks between the Comanche and the US Government are sabotaged by renegade Indians and a corrupt Indian commissioner. She had a small role in the movie as Margarita, and there were reports she wasn’t paid for her work. Her next Hollywood film was The Last of the Fast Guns in 1958. The film starred Jock Mahoney, Gilbert Roland, and Lorne Green. Gunman Brad Ellison traveled to Mexico in search of a missing man and learned that life is not simple, and everyone has a secret. Linda played Maria O’Reilly in the film. She played Ellen Hardy in the horror western, The Fiend Who Walked the West, also released in 1958. The movie starred Hugh O’Brian, Robert Evans, and Ron Ely. It was a remake of the 1947 movie A convicted bank robber serving his sentence and hoping to return to his family becomes involved with a deranged and homicidal inmate. 1958
