Marta Victoria Moya Peggo Burges was born in Buenos Aires to a French father and Italian mother. She was one of three siblings. When she was five years old, her family fled to Montevideo, Uruguay, where they lived for several years in reduced circumstances.
Her father, a publisher, had gotten into conflict with a criminal gang or possibly fallen foul of the ruling political elite. Whatever the case, both parents died prematurely in a possible suicide pact when Linda was 13.
Marta was educated at the Conservatoria Franklin in Uruguay, where she studied voice and piano. She briefly married Argentinian actor Tito Gómez, but the marriage was annulled after just five days. She also considered entering a convent.
Marta was discovered by film producer and director Miguel Alemán Velasco while vacationing in Mexico with her brother. She adopted the name Linda Cristal and made several Spanish-language films, establishing herself as a rising star in Mexico.
Conscious of her potential, Linda decided to learn English as her fourth language and made her American film debut in the western Comanche (1956). She then had a brief hiatus in her career due to a dispute over non-payment of wages and a car accident.
Linda was lured back to Hollywood by Universal to star in a couple of minor westerns, The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) and The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958). She continued to work in Hollywood, attempting to break free from typecasting as decorative Latinas.
Linda got noticed by high-profile people in the business, including John Wayne, and secured roles in better productions like The Alamo (1960) and Two Rode Together (1961). She also learned of producer David Dortort casting for the part of Victoria Montoya in the TV series The High Chaparral (1967).
Linda auditioned for the role, but found the script too saccharine and bland. She audaciously improvised, re-imagining her character as more tempestuous, resourceful, and proud. She secured the role and played it for four seasons, winning two Primetime Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award in 1970 as Best Actress in a TV Drama.
After The High Chaparral ceased production in 1971, Linda made guest appearances in a handful of TV shows and played a Mexican migrant worker and union leader in Charles Bronson's action film Mr. Majestyk (1974). She later worked as a realtor, presided over her own import/export business, and invested wisely to become financially very well-off.
Linda made a final comeback to acting as the mistress of a mob boss in the daytime soap General Hospital (1963) and eventually called it quits in 1988. She spent her remaining years between residences in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, and Buenos Aires and passed away at her Beverly Hills home on June 27, 2020, at the age of 89.
