Eric Linden

Fair-haired, youthfully handsome Swedish-American actor Eric Linden, who enjoyed pre-Code, Depression-era Hollywood stardom in boyish leads, was discovered for films by director Wesley Ruggles when Ruggles cast the New York-based actor in a lead role in the film Are These Our Children (1931). His mother made ends meet by working at a church parish. He attended the Paul Hoffman Jr. School where he made appearances in the school's plays. A one-time usher at the Riverside, Riviera and Roxy Theatres in New York, he took English and literature classes at Columbia University at one point. Eric was invited into the Theatre Guild membership and appeared in such productions as "Marco's Millions" and "Strange Interlude". He also began appearing on Broadway and performed in repertory around the East coast. Earning a RKO Hollywood contract at the onset of talking films, he made an auspicious debut as the self-important, trouble-making Eddie Brand in Are These Our Children (1931).