LINDA STIRLING
October 11th, 1921 -- July 20th, 1997

Above: Linda Stirling in a pretty publicity portrait taken sometime during her career at Republic.

Almost all serial fans (myself included) agree that lovely, talented, and charming Linda Stirling holds the title of Serial Queen of the Sound Era, and so, it's only appropriate to start off the Heroines section with a piece on her.

Above: Linda Stirling, with leading man Allan Lane, in her first and best-known serial--THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944).

Linda, as popular as she became, was not Republic's first official serial queen. Kay Aldridge was the first to lay claim to that title, having appeared in three earlier cliffhangers for the studio. In one of these (DAREDEVILS OF THE WEST) Aldridge had been partnered with Allan Lane, who Republic was advertising as the Serial King, following his two successful King of the Royal Mounted cliffhangers at the studio. Lane and Aldridge were scheduled for a second serial together, but Kay decided to exit films and Republic needed a new serial queen fast, so Linda Stirling came into the picture. After tests of her acting and riding abilities, Republic signed her to a Term Player contract and cast her in the role originally slated for Aldridge, the part of THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944). The Tiger Woman was the white ruler of a jungle tribe in South America, and, unbeknownst to her, the lost heiress to a large fortune. When the villainous Walden (LeRoy Mason) enters the picture with designs on both Linda's inheritance and her tribe's oil lands, mayhem erupts in the jungle, with the heroic Allen Saunders (Allan Lane) and his sidekick Jose (Duncan Renaldo) coming to the aid of the Tiger Woman and joining her in defeating the profiteers (who also include George J. Lewis and Crane Whitley). The serial called for Linda to do a lot of riding and other acrobatics, and she threw herself into the part, but not without a lot of trial and error. The former model had never been on a horse before, and this caused her some wear and tear, but with her poise, looks, and talent (Linda was probably the best actress of all the Republic heroines) she played her part convincingly and helped to make TIGER WOMAN a success for Republic. The studio was suitably impressed, and decided to retain Stirling for further roles.

Above: The Tiger Woman (Linda Stirling, far left) gets the drop on a batch of bad guys raiding her tribe's temple. George J. Lewis (as action heavy Morgan) stands closest to Linda, while good guy high priest Robert Frazer is leaning against the altar on the far right.

Linda's next serial, ZORRO'S BLACK WHIP (Republic, 1944) also called for her to do a lot of riding. Set in the old West, the serial had nothing to do with Zorro (his name was never even mentioned in the serial) but instead dealt with the adventures of a masked avenger known as the Whip, who is out to stop a group of outlaws who are trying to block Idaho's impending statehood. Jay Kirby played the Whip in the first chapter, but he is killed while fighting the villains, and his sister (Linda) takes over as the Whip for the rest of the serial, working in co-operation with government agent Vic Gordon (George J. Lewis, the action heavy from Linda's earlier TIGER WOMAN). Francis MacDonald played the upright citizen/secret outlaw leader, John Merton and Hal Taliaferro were his henchmen, and comic character actor Lucien Littlefield was Tenpoint, the nervous printer on Linda's paper.

Above: Linda Stirling and George J. Lewis in a publicity still for ZORRO'S BLACK WHIP (Republic, 1944).

Republic, very pleased with the success of Linda's two 1944 serials, immediately put her in two more for the 1945 season. The first was MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND, in which Linda played Claire Forrest, the daughter of scientist William Forrest (Forrest Taylor). In the serial, Professor Forrest is kidnapped by Captain Mephisto (Roy Barcroft, in his best--and his favorite--serial role), an apparently re-incarnated pirate who was actually one of the pirate's descendants and had discovered a way to re-design his molecular structure to resemble his ancestors. When her father disappears, Claire enlists the aid of criminologist Lance Reardon (popular radio leading man Richard Bailey in a rare acting appearance; he seemed ill at ease before the camera but tackled his part with enthusiasm) and the two of them journey to Mystery Island, former stronghold of the original Captain Mephisto and now privately owned by four of his descendants (Forbes Murray, Jack Ingram, Harry Strang, Edward Cassidy). It becomes evident to Lance and Claire that one of the owners must be Mephisto, but which one?

Above: Richard Bailey and Linda Stirling follow up a clue in the eerie tunnels of Mystery Island in this lobby card for MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND (Republic, 1945). Roy Barcroft looms above them, about to trigger a floodgate and (in his words) “drown the rats!”

In her second 1945 Republic serial, THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES, Linda again faced the villainy of Roy Barcroft, who this time played a Martian invader (the Purple Monster) bent on conquering the earth. The Monster takes over the body of Linda's uncle Cyrus Layton (James Craven) and uses Layton's identity for his own evil purposes. Craig Foster (Dennis Moore), a former Secret Service agent, battles the Monster and his henchman Garrett (Bud Geary) for the entire fifteen chapters, but neither he nor Linda discover till the very end that Layton and the Monster are one and the same. Linda showed how admirably suited she was for the serial genre in PURPLE MONSTER, by managing to sound genuinely frightened (and not amused as the odd name) whenever she gasped out “The Purple Monster!”

Above: The Purple Monster (Roy Barcroft) grabs Linda Stirling in THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (Republic, 1945).

Linda's next serial, THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946) was the first and only time she worked with ace action director William Witney; all her previous cliffhangers had been directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett. Witney's last serial and one of his best, THE CRIMSON GHOST dealt with the theft of a counter-atomic weapon known as the Cyclotrode by a masked madman known as the Crimson Ghost, and the adventures of physicist and criminologist Duncan Richards (Charles Quigley, in a very well-done performance) as he attempts to block the Ghost's schemes. Linda was Diana Farnsworth, Richards' assistant, and aids the hero in his battle against the Crimson Ghost. At one point, Linda is captured and outfitted with one of the Ghost's "control collars", which makes her an unwilling accomplice of the arch-villain (until Quigley finds a way to remove the collar). It was the closest Linda ever came to playing a villain, and gave her the chance to demonstrate her versatility and acting ability. CRIMSON GHOST was also important to Linda for a more personal reason; while working on the serial she met her future husband Sloan Nibley, one of Republic's most talented screenwriters. They were married later that year.

Above: Duncan Richards (Charles Quigley) is forced to disarm Diana Farnsworth (Linda Stirling) when she is made an unwilling accomplice of the Crimson Ghost through the sinister "slave collar" in this lobby card from Chapter 8 of THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946). The Crimson Ghost himself is featured in the right border.

After her marriage, Linda pretty much left acting for home life, but she did do one final serial, the 13-chapter JESSE JAMES RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1947). Once again, she was paired with the action heavy from her previous serial, Clayton Moore, who played a reformed Jesse battling a gang known as the Black Raiders, who were after the oil on the land of Linda, her father Tom London, and other ranchers. Linda dropped out of JESSE JAMES before the final chapter, she originally was slated to participate in the Chapter Twelve cliffhanger, but she was expecting her first son and Republic let her out of the strenuous work early. It was a smaller part than Linda's previous five serial roles, but it was still a good farewell to the cliffhanger genre.

Above: Jesse James (Clayton Moore) comes to the rescue of Ann Bolton (Linda Stirling) who has just escaped being crushed in a cotton press in this still from JESSE JAMES RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1947).

Linda still made occasional acting appearances into the fifties, mostly on Bill Williams's KIT CARSON TV show, which her husband Sloan Nibley produced. She later took up drama teaching, and kept at it till 1990, when Sloan died. Linda followed him in 1997, leaving behind a legacy of thrills and adventure for those who watched her serials, and still remaining everyone's favorite heroine and the undisputed Queen of the Serials.

Above: A photo from TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944), showing Allan Lane, Duncan Renaldo, and, of course, Linda herself.