Marsh was born in New York City to Arthur Cracovaner, a physician, and Liska March, a former Ziegfeld dancer. She chose Marsh as her stage last name because the actors’ union already had a Linda March as a member.
Marsh attended a private school in New York[1] and Bennington College. She left Bennington after two years to pursue a career in acting.
Marsh became one of the attractive young actresses who were regularly romanced by the stars of popular TV series, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (S3E21, “The It’s All Greek to Me Affair”, 1967 Feb 03), I Spy, The Wild Wild West (S1E14, “The Night of the Howling Light”, 1965 Dec 17), It Takes a Thief (S1E11, “To Steal a Battleship”, 1968 March 26), Hawaii Five-O (S02E07, “Sweet Terror”, 1969 Nov 05; S03E07, “Forces of Waves,” 1970 Oct 28; S12E06, “Image of Fear”, 1979 Nov 08), and Daniel Boone (S6E19, “A Matter of Vengeance”, 1970). Among her early television appearances she played Elizabeth Bacio, daughter of the title character, in the 1965 Perry Mason episode, “The Case of the Sad Sicilian.” She also appeared as Nora in The Big Valley (S4E16, “The 25 Graves of Midas”, February 3, 1969).
Marsh was cast as the historical Susan Shelby Magoffin, the first woman to travel the Santa Fe Trail in the 1965 episode, “No Place for a Lady”, on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days. Simon Scott played Magoffin’s husband, Samuel, and host Ronald W. Reagan was cast as frontiersman William Bent.
In an unusual turnabout from the pattern typical for ingenues, Marsh underwent a series of rhinoplasties following her early successes rather than changing her appearance before starting her career. Already a pretty woman, the ultimate result was exceptionally dramatic and opened the door to more glamorous parts in the later 1960s. She was a frequent guest star on television into the 1970s; her last credited roles were in 1979.
Marsh’s few film appearances included Che! (1969), Homebodies (1974) and Freebie and the Bean (1974). She had a supporting role in the television miniseries, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978).
Marsh won acclaim in Kazan’s adaptation of his book America, America as a young woman who is betrothed to the story’s ambitious main character but abandoned in his quest to emigrate from Turkey to the United States. To play the characters in the epic film, which was loosely based on his uncle’s life, the director said he chose actors who were Jewish (naming Marsh among them) or Greek because “all of them know oppression, they all have uncles from the ‘Old World’ and have an affectionate relationship towards their forebears.”
In 1964 she played Ophelia in John Gielgud‘s celebrated Broadway production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton. Her Ophelia received mixed notices, but Gielgud liked her performance and resisted efforts to recast the part despite holding more auditions during rehearsals.
