By Luis Reyes
Linda Cristal, an actress of outstanding beauty and acting ability passed away at the age of 89 on Saturday June 27th in her sleep at her Beverly Hills home. She was one of the most visible Latinas on television during the late 1960s’ with her starring role as the strong willed Mexican beauty Victoria Cannon on the hit Western adventure series The High Chaparral (1967-1971).
She along with Elena Verdugo as Nurse Consuelo on ABC’s medical drama Marcus Welby M.D. (1969-1976) were the lone two Latina leading TV series actresses on broadcast network television of that era. Positive leading roles for Latina actresses on series television were virtually non-existent at the time.
In 1970 Cristal won the Hollywood Foreign Press Golden Globe Award for Best actress in a TV drama for her work on the series and twice nominated for an Emmy.
Originally airing on NBC, The High Chaparral was the first program to prominently feature non-stereotypical lead Mexican characters alongside their Anglo-American counterparts. The show catapulted actor Henry Darrow (Enrique Delgado) to fame as Victoria’s dashing bad boy brother Manolito Montoya.
Filmed on location in Tucson, Arizona and at Paramount Studios, the show regularly employed many Latino actors and stunt players during the run of the series included actors Rudy Acosta, Roberto Contreras, Frank Silvera, Barbara Luna, Marie Gomez, Ricardo Montalban, Fernando Lamas and Rudy Ramos.
Cristal’s character, Victoria, is the daughter of a powerful Mexican cattle baron who marries the much older, recent widower John Cannon. When Victoria’s brother Manolito (Henry Darrow) comes to live with, the Cannon’s and Montoya’s become one family. What starts off as an uneasy relationship of mutual interests, soon develops into a loving family living along the southern Arizona frontier of the 1870’s.
Victoria was a major and integral part of the show and Cristal found herself as the only female among the regular cast.
During her career the stunningly beautiful actress played varied multidimensional women with elegance and strength, a quality she naturally brought to her roles and that audiences identified her with.
Born Marta Victoria Moya Peggo Burges in Buenos Aires Argentina, the actress was orphaned at an early age when she lost both her parents in a car accident. She changed her birth name when she began her acting career in Mexican films and soon after transitioned into Hollywood films, most notably playing a Mexican noblewoman opposite John Wayne in The Alamo (1960)
Her starring film credits include Blake Edward’s The Perfect Furlough (1958) with Tony Curtis in which she played a glamorous Italian film star, Cry Tough (1959), an urban drama in the role of Sarita, the Cuban girlfriend of a Puerto-Rican ex con played by John Saxon. Two Rode Together (1961), directed by the legendary John Ford paired her with Jimmy Stewart as a Comanche captive.
Her last big screen role was in Mr. Majestyk (1974), an action thriller starring opposite Charles Bronson, in which she played a “Dolores Huerta” like farm labor union organizer.
Among her many guest-starring appearances in episodic television series are Rawhide opposite Clint Eastwood, Bonanza, Police Story, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. In constant TV syndication since it ended its run, The High Chaparral has fans all over the world to this day as new generations discover the timeless and enduring talent of Linda Cristal.
The High Chapparal can be seen locally in Los Angeles on METV (KAZA Channel 54) as well as other states that carry METV across the country.