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Edna Purviance
Purviance in 1923
Born	Olga Edna Purviance (1895-10-21)October 21, 1895 Paradise Valley, Nevada, U.S.
Died	January 13, 1958(1958-01-13) (aged 62) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
Years active	1915–1927
Spouse	John Squire ​ ​(m. 1938; died 1945)​

Olga Edna Purviance (/ˈɛdnə pərˈvaɪəns/; October 21, 1895 – January 13, 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with him.

Life and career

1895–1913: Early life

Purviance was born in Paradise Valley, Nevada to English immigrant Louisa Wright Davey and American vintner to the western mining camps Madison (Matt) Gates Purviance. When she was three, the family moved to Lovelock, Nevada, where they assumed ownership of a hotel. Her parents divorced in 1902, and her mother later married Robert Nurnberger, a German plumber. Growing up, Purviance was a talented pianist.

She left Lovelock in 1913, and moved in with her married sister Bessie while attending business college in San Francisco.

1914–1927: Film career

In 1915, Purviance was working as a secretary in San Francisco when actor and director Charlie Chaplin was working on his second film with Essanay Studios, working out of Niles, California, 28 miles southeast of San Francisco, in Southern Alameda County. He was looking for a leading lady for A Night Out. One of his associates noticed Purviance at a Tate's Café in San Francisco and thought she should be cast in the role. Chaplin arranged a meeting with her, but he was concerned that she might be too serious for comedic roles. Purviance still won the role.

Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of his Essanay, Mutual, and First National films of 1915 to 1917. Purviance appeared in 33 of Chaplin's productions, including the 1921 The Kid. Her last credited appearance in a Chaplin film, A Woman of Paris, was also her first leading role. The film was not a success and effectively ended Purviance's career. She appeared in two more films: Sea Gulls, also known as A Woman of the Sea (which Chaplin never released) and Éducation de Prince, a French film released in 1927. For more than 30 years afterward, Edna lived quietly outside Hollywood. She received a small monthly salary from Chaplin's film company for the rest of her life. "How could I forget Edna?" Chaplin responded to an interviewer after her death. "She was with me when it all began."

1927–1958: Retirement and later years

Romantically involved with Charlie Chaplin for several years, Purviance eventually married John Squire, a Pan-American Airlines pilot, in 1938. They remained married until his death in 1945.

Death

On January 13, 1958, Purviance died from throat cancer at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Her remains are interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

In popular culture

She was portrayed by Penelope Ann Miller in the film Chaplin (1992) and by Katie Maguire in the film Madcap Mabel (2010).

In the TV series Peaky Blinders (series three, episode four), the character Tatiana Petrovna played by Gaite Jansen is said to resemble her.

Filmography

Short subjects

All short subjects directed by Charlie Chaplin.

Feature films

References

1. "Madison Gates Purviance – Edna Purviance's father". www.ednapurviance.org.
2. Toll, David W. (2002). The Complete Nevada Traveler: The Affectionate and Intimately Detailed Guidebook to the Most Interesting State in America. University of Nevada Press. p. 12. ISBN 0-940936-12-7.
3. Monush, Barry, ed. (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965, Volume 1. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 612. ISBN 1-55783-551-9.
4. "Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance Dates and Events". www.ednapurviance.org. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
5. This is not the way Purviance met Chaplin, according to Gerith von Ulm's Charlie Chaplin – King of Tragedy, pp. 90–91.
6. Robinson, David (1986). Chaplin : his life and art. Collins. p. 141, 219. ISBN 978-0-586-08544-8. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
7. ^ Powrie 2005, p. 95.
8. "Edna Purviance". The Montreal Gazette. January 16, 1958. p. 35. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
9. ^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub. p. 104. ISBN 0-7864-0983-5.
10. ^ Neibaur 2012, p. 225.
11. ^ "Edna Purviance Filmography". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
12. ^ Neibaur 2012, p. 226.

Sources

• Neibaur, James L. (2012). Early Charlie Chaplin: The Artist as Apprentice at Keystone Studios. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-810-88242-3.
• Powrie, Phil (2005). Pierre Batcheff and Stardom in 1920s French Cinema. Edinburgh, Schotland: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-748-62960-2.

External links

• Edna Purviance at IMDb
• Edna Purviance—tribute and research site
• Edna Purviance at Then & Now

• Edna Purviance at Find a Grave

• 1895 births
• 1958 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• Actresses from Nevada
• American film actresses
• American people of English descent
• American silent film actresses
• Burials at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
• Deaths from cancer in California
• Deaths from throat cancer
• People from Humboldt County, Nevada
• Silent film comedians
• 20th-century American comedians
• People from Lovelock, Nevada