Victoria looked like no other woman star seen before on American TV in the 1960s: an exotic, glamorous Mexican frontier woman with long jet-black hair, alluring dark eyes, and a fiery personality.
Victoria was the heiress of a Mexican cattle-man who wed a widowed rancher in ararranged marriage during the 1870s in the Arizona Territory, and she helped husband John Cannon develop the ranch, called the High Chaparral. Victoria brought charm and grace to the Chaparral, but behind that pretty face was a strong willed and courageous wife, a true frontier woman who could ride a horse and shoot a gun.
The website www.thehighchaparral.com said Victoria "was the one woman strong enough to help Cannon build a ranch...Given the deep love that grew between Victoria and her husband and all they accomplished together, it's apparent that their marriage was 'arranged' by a much higher authority than her father."
The last actor to be cast on the show, Linda came out of retirement to play Victoria. She won three Golden Globes and was nominated for two Emmys.
Fellow "Chaparral" actor Bob Hoy told
www.thehighchaparral.com that Linda was always a true professional on the set. "She'd put on those damn hot dresses, she'd be out there, 100 degrees with her makeup on every day. She never complained for four years. And she did the job. We never saw her blow lines. She really was the darling of our show."
Linda, whose real name is Marta Victoria Moya Burges, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While her striking features and nationality would suggest that she is of Hispanic heritage, in fact, Linda's father was French and her mother Italian.
Linda was discovered by a Mexican producer and she made 13
Mexican films before she moved on to Hollywood. She told an
interviewer for www.highchaparralbonanzafanfic.com that when
she was 18 she saw an ad in a Mexican newspaper that United
Artists was looking for a Mexican actress who could speak English..
"I spoke no English but I went to see them anyway, and I had such
a desire to make it, that I went for it. And I came out of that office
with a picture, a script, and a seven year contract."
Due to her heavy accent and Latina appearance, she was typecast
in Western movies such as "Comanche" and "Two Rode Together."
Her stunning beauty caught the attention of John Wayne, who
requested that she work with him in "The Alamo."
After "The High Chaparral" ended its run in 1971, Linda worked only periodically in Hollywood. She returned to her native Argentina and starred in the soap "Rosse" in the 1980s.
In 1988 she appeared on the daytime soap "General Hospital" as a mistress to a crime boss, marking her fourth return from retirement.
"I'm like the bullfighters and boxers who keep making comebacks," she joked in an interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1988.
"While I was retired, I asked myself, 'Who am I fooling?' Acting is my favorite occupation. I really wanted to work again and I would have done anything to get this job. on 'General Hospital.' I was so excited when I got the role that I couldn't sleep."
No. 24
Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown
LINDA CRISTAL as Victoria Montoya Cannon in "The High Chaparral"
