Linda Haynes (born November 4, 1947) is an American actress who appeared in several films in the 1970s and early 1980s before retiring from the business and becoming a legal secretary. A life member of

The Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 44th Street (Manhattan), West 44th Street between Ninth Avenue (Manhattan), Ninth and Tenth Avenue (Manhattan), Tenth avenues in the ...

, Haynes is best known for her roles in ''

Coffy ''Coffy'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. The story is about a black female vigilante played by Pam Grier who seeks violent revenge against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister's addiction.Gary A. ...

'', ''

The Nickel Ride ''The Nickel Ride'' is a 1974 American neo-noir crime film directed and produced by Robert Mulligan and starring Jason Miller, Linda Haynes, Victor French, Bo Hopkins, and John Hillerman. It is the debut film of screenwriter Eric Roth. It was ...

'' and '' Rolling Thunder''.

Career

Haynes' first film was '' Latitude Zero'' in 1969, which also starred

Cesar Romero Cesar Julio Romero Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was an American actor and activist. He was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in c ...

Richard Jaeckel Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...

, and

Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and ''Sabr ...

. She then went on to appear in films such as ''

'' (1973), ''

'' (1974), '' The Drowning Pool'' (1975), '' Rolling Thunder'' (1977), ''

Human Experiments ''Human Experiments'' (also known as ''Beyond the Gate'') is a 1979 American horror film directed and co-produced by Gregory Goodell. It stars Linda Haynes, Geoffrey Lewis, Ellen Travolta, Aldo Ray, Jackie Coogan and Lurene Tuttle. This fil ...

'' (1979), '' Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones'' (1980), and ''

Brubaker ''Brubaker'' is a 1980 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent penal system. The screenplay by W. D. Richte ...

'' (1980). She also appeared in the episode of the 1974 television series '' Paper Moon'', portraying

Bonnie Parker Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut (Champion) Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The co ...

. She mysteriously left the acting world in 1980 and was found in 1995 by director

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

and author Tom Graves. In 2015 Graves published a long profile about her titled ''Blonde Shadow: The Brief Career and Mysterious Disappearance of Actress Linda Haynes'' that is included in his anthology ''Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers''.

Critical evaluation

Although no comparably substantive treatments of her career have surfaced thus far, Graves and Tarantino are far from alone in citing the integrity of Haynes' work – though some also note a corresponding failure of filmmakers to put it to good use. In her 1977 review of ''Rolling Thunder'' in

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

Molly Haskell Molly Clark Haskell (born September 29, 1939)Aitken, Ian, ed. (2006)''Encyclopedia of Documentary Film, Volume 2'' New York: Routledge. p. 541. . is an American feminist film critic and author. She contributed to ''The Village Voice''—firs ...

remarks:

The men... come off better than the women because they are excused from ever uttering a word. Linda Haynes, who was so exciting and authentically rural in Robert Mulligan's ''Nickel Ride'', has that most thankless role of the adoring and impossibly patient woman who must babble on to fill the silences.

In his book-length critique of cinema's track record, regarding the homecoming veteran, author Emmett Early discusses the same film:

Linda Haynes plays the barmaid with measured abandon. She says at one point, after Charlie has involved her in a violent scene, "Why do I get stuck with crazy men?" Charlie replies, "That's the only kind that's left." He describes himself as already dead when she tries to make love to him. Like Charlie, the movie fails to take advantage of her talents.

Reviewing the 2011 DVD release of ''The Nickel Ride'',

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

's Fernando F. Croce (who elsewhere cites "the unheralded Linda Haynes") notes that its downtrodden protagonist (portrayed by sometime playwright Jason Miller):

nevertheless hangs on to a thread of taciturn self-respect largely thanks to his "cracker wife" Sarah (perennial "Whatever Happened To?" case Linda Haynes, a sort of thrift-store Sissy Spacek who can imprint a whole blowsy lifetime into the way she shimmies her hips).

Reviewing the same film, critic

Glenn Erickson Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low-budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacitie ...

notes that the protagonist's "intensely loyal... ex-dancer girlfriend' is portrayed by "the remarkable Linda Haynes."

References

External links

*
Tom Graves' Blog: Quentin Tarantino Lauds Our Friend Linda Haynes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haynes, Linda 1947 births Actresses from Florida American film actresses Living people 21st-century American women