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Edna Purviance (October 21 1895 – January 11 1958) was an American actress during the silent movie era. She was the leading lady in many Charlie Chaplin movies. In a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with Chaplin.
Biography
Edna Purviance (pronounced purv-EYE-ance) was born in Paradise Valley, Nevada to Louise and Madison Gates Purviance. When she was three, the family moved to Lovelock, Nevada where they assumed ownership of a hotel property. In 1902, her parents were divorced and her mother later married Robert Nurnberger, a German plumber. Growing up, Purviance was a talented pianist; Leaving Lovelock, in 1913, she attended business college in San Francisco.
In 1915, Charlie Chaplin was working on his second film with Essanay Studios, working out of Niles, California, one hour southeast of San Francisco. He was looking for a leading lady for A Night Out, and 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, and although he was concerned that she might be too serious for comedic roles, she won the job (and for a number of years was his "off-camera" leading lady as well).
Purviance subsequently appeared in 33 of Chaplin's created films, including the 1921 classic The Kid. Her last film with him, A Woman of Paris, was also her first lead role. She went on to appear in two more films: The Sea Gull, also known as A Woman of the Sea -- which was never released by Chaplin -- and Education de Prince, a French film released in 1927, just before she retired as an actress.
Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of the Essanay, Mutual, and First National films in 1915-1917. Chaplin retained tremendous affection for Edna Purviance, and kept her on his payroll until her death from cancer on January 13, 1958, at the age of 62 (as per her official California death certificate).
Edna was married to John Squire, a Pan Am pilot, from 1938 until his death in 1945. Recently, silent B&W and color films have been discovered and restored that show a glimpse into Edna and Jack's life together from the late 1930s and early 1940s, and over 40 production stills from her unreleased film The Sea Gull have also come to light. She was portrayed by Penelope Ann Miller in the film Chaplin. Edna is interred in the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Despite the fact that she played Chaplin's leading lady in dozens of films, and more so than any other actress, she does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, there exists a petition with hundreds of signatures to get her a star.
It should be noted that Edna Purviance has never been fully researched until the last few years, so new information is being found about her and replacing outdated information printed and repeated in the past. Some of that new information is on this page and not in printed book publications yet.
Filmography
- In the Park (1915)
- A Jitney Elopement (1915)
- The Tramp (1915)
- By the Sea (1915)
- Work (1915)
- A Woman (1915)
- The Bank (1915)
- Shanghaied (1915)
- A Night in the Show (1915)
- Burlesque on Carmen (1915)
- The Floorwalker (1916)
- Police! (1916)
- The Fireman (1916)
- The Vagabond (1916)
- The Count (1916)
- The Pawnshop (1916)
- Behind the Screen (1916)
- The Rink (1916)
- Easy Street (1917)
- The Cure)
- The Immigrant (1917)
- The Adventurer (1917)
- A Dog’s Life (1918)
- Triple Trouble (1918) (created by Essanay after Chaplin left from outtakes of Police and unfinished film Life)
- Shoulder Arms (1918)
- The Bond (1918)
- Sunnyside (1919)
- A Day’s Pleasure (1919)
- The Kid (1921) (feature)
- The Idle Class (1921)
- Pay Day (1922)
- The Pilgrim (1923)
- A Woman of Paris (1923) (feature)
- A Woman of the Sea (1926) aka The Sea Gull (feature)
- Education de Prince (1927) aka Education of a Prince (feature)
- Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - possible cameo (disputed)
- Limelight (1952) - possible cameo (disputed)