Linda Christian (born Blanca Rosa Henrietta Stella Welter Vorhauer; November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011) was a Mexican actress often credited as the first Bond girl due to her role as Valerie Mathis in the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale. This was a one-hour live broadcast for the anthology series Climax!, and it featured Barry Nelson as James Bond. Though not part of the official EON Productions Bond film series, Christian’s role as Bond’s love interest and a reimagining of the original Vesper Lynd character makes her a historical first in Bond adaptations.
In her youth Christian’s only aspiration was to become a physician. After she graduated from secondary school she had a fortuitous meeting with her screen idol Errol Flynn, who became her lover; he persuaded her to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career. Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven-year contract with MGM.
Her stage name was invented by Flynn, who gave her the surname of Fletcher Christian of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Flynn had played Fletcher Christian in a 1933 Australian film.
In his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn states that immediately after Linda Christian’s screen test, he offered to pay for her to have a couple of crooked teeth fixed. When he got a whopping bill, he discovered that she had taken the opportunity to undergo major cosmetic dentistry. Years later, when he met her again, he said, “Smile, baby – I want to see those choppers: they took their first bite out of me.”
She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy Up in Arms, co-starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye’s own first film. This film was followed by Holiday in Mexico (1946), Green Dolphin Street (1947), and what was perhaps her best-known film, Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948). She was the subject of a well-known photograph published in the January 1, 1949 issue of Vogue.
Christian was the first Bond girl to appear on screen, playing Valerie Mathis (opposite Barry Nelson as James Bond) in the 1954 TV adaptation of Casino Royale, beating Ursula Andress to the screen by eight years.
In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
(Photos by Bob Landry The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)
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