Eric Linden was a Swedish–American actor, primarily active during the 1930s.
Early years
Eric Linden was born in New York City to Phillip and Elvira Linden, both of Swedish descent. His father was a professional pianist and an actor on stage with the Theater Royal when he lived in Stockholm, Sweden. When Eric was six, Phillip Linden deserted his family in New York City. To help support his mother, sister and two brothers, he began washing dishes at a cafe after school when he was 7 years old. He also sold newspapers on Tenth Avenue. Linden attended Angela Patri elementary school participated in school plays at DeWitt Clinton High School. After graduation, he worked his way through Columbia University. His first job after graduating from Columbia was being a runner for a bank.
Writing
Linden had ambitions of becoming a writer rather than an actor. By the time he was 22 years old, he had written three plays and 40 short stories, but none had been published. He hoped to have saved enough money by age 30 to retire from acting and spend his time writing.
Stage
Linden trained with the Theatre Guild for two years and went on to appear on Broadway in addition to acting in stock theater in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and acting in Paris, France, with the Paris-American Company. He appeared in an adaption of Goethe's Faust on Broadway in 1928. Linden's other Broadway's credits include The Silver Cord, The Age of Consent, Life Begins, Sweepings, and Big City Blues.
Film
Linden made his film debut during the Great Depression in RKO Radio Pictures' 1931 crime film, Are These Our Children?, where he played a young murderer who gets executed. He later appeared in 33 films until 1941, mostly playing second leads. He mostly portrayed "sensitive, intellectual, slightly weak-willed juveniles", often with tragic destinies. His notable films include Big City Blues with Joan Blondell, Old Hutch, opposite Wallace Beery, Ah, Wilderness! and A Family Affair, both with Lionel Barrymore and Mickey Rooney, and The Good Old Soak, again Wallace Beery. In 1939, Linden had a small but memorable role as the "amputation case without chloroform" soldier in the hospital in Gone with the Wind. Linden's role in Gone with the Wind was originally quite extensive, but his role was later reduced to less than a minute. His career petered out and he left Hollywood after his final film, Criminals Within.
Later years
Eric Linden played in a few stage roles and then served in the Second World War. He later retired from acting and worked for the County of Orange in California. He married late in life in 1955, age 46; he and wife Jo Brown, an artist, settled in Laguna Beach, California and had three children: Karen, David and Andrea. They divorced in 1977.
