Eric Linden

Eric Linden (September 15, 1909 – July 14, 1994) was an American actor born in New York City to Phillip and Elvira Linden, both of Swedish descent. His father, a professional pianist who had worked as a stage actor with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, abandoned the family when Linden was six years old. To help support his mother, sister, and two brothers, Linden began washing dishes at a café after school at age seven and sold newspapers on Tenth Avenue. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he participated in school plays, and later worked his way through Columbia University. His first position after graduating was as a bank runner.

Despite pursuing a career in acting, Linden harbored ambitions as a writer. Before the age of 22, he had completed three plays and forty short stories, none of which were published. He hoped to accumulate enough money from acting by age 30 to retire and devote himself to writing full time.

Linden trained with the Theatre Guild for two years before establishing himself as a stage performer. His Broadway career spanned from 1928 to 1934 and included an adaptation of Faust, which marked his Broadway debut in 1928, as well as the play Ladies' Money. Additional stage credits included The Silver Cord, The Age of Consent, Life Begins, Sweepings, and Big City Blues. He also performed in stock theater in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and appeared on stage in Paris, France, with the Paris-American Company.

Linden made his film debut in the 1931 RKO Radio Pictures crime film Are These Our Children?, playing a young murderer who is executed. He went on to appear in 33 films through 1941, frequently cast as sensitive, intellectually inclined, and somewhat weak-willed young men, occasionally with tragic outcomes. Among his notable films were Big City Blues (1932) with Joan Blondell, Ah, Wilderness! (1935) and A Family Affair (1937) alongside Lionel Barrymore and Mickey Rooney, Old Hutch (1936) and The Good Old Soak (1937) opposite Wallace Beery, and Gone with the Wind (1939), in which he played a soldier facing leg amputation without chloroform. His role in Gone with the Wind had originally been planned as more substantial but was reduced to under a minute of screen time during post-production. His final film was the low-budget picture Criminals Within (1941), after which he left Hollywood.

Following his departure from film, Linden returned to the stage, appearing in productions including The Philadelphia Story, My Sister Eileen, and Brighton Rock. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7098 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section, dedicated on February 8, 1960.