Linda Marsh

Linda Marsh, born Linda Cracovaner on February 8, 1939, in New York City, is an American actress whose work spans film, stage, and television. Her father, Arthur Cracovaner, was a physician, and her mother, Liska March, had been a Ziegfeld dancer. Marsh adopted her stage surname because the actors' union already had a registered member named Linda March. She was educated at a private school in New York City and later attended Bennington College, which she left after two years to pursue acting professionally.

Marsh first gained significant attention through her work with director Elia Kazan on the 1963 film America, America, an adaptation of Kazan's own book loosely based on his uncle's life. She played a young woman betrothed to the film's central character, an ambitious man who ultimately abandons her in his drive to emigrate from Turkey to the United States. Kazan stated that he cast actors who were Jewish or Greek for the film's roles, citing Marsh among the former group, because such performers had a personal connection to themes of oppression and Old World heritage. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.

In 1964, Marsh appeared on Broadway in John Gielgud's production of Hamlet, playing Ophelia opposite Richard Burton in the title role. Her portrayal received mixed notices from critics, though Gielgud himself expressed satisfaction with her work and resisted pressure to recast the role even as additional auditions were held during rehearsals.

Her television career was extensive throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. Among her earlier credits, she appeared in the 1965 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Sad Sicilian," playing Elizabeth Bacio, the daughter of the episode's title character. That same year she portrayed Susan Shelby Magoffin, identified as the first woman to travel the Santa Fe Trail, in the Death Valley Days episode "No Place for a Lady." She went on to guest star on The Wild Wild West in December 1965, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in February 1967, Mannix in October 1967, and It Takes a Thief in March 1968. In 1968 she also took on a major role as Rachel in the eighth episode of the first season of Here Come the Brides. Additional guest appearances included I Spy, The Big Valley, Daniel Boone, and multiple episodes of Hawaii Five-O spanning from 1969 to 1979.

Her film work included roles in Che! in 1969, Homebodies in 1974, and Freebie and the Bean in 1974, as well as a supporting part in the 1978 television miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home. Her last credited screen roles came in 1979. On April 3, 1966, Marsh married actor Richard Sinatra in Beverly Hills, California.