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Edna Purviance
Edna Purviance from The Blue Book of the Screen
Born	(1895-10-21)October 21, 1895 Paradise Valley, Nevada
Died	January 11, 1958(1958-01-11) (aged 62) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	throat cancer
Resting place	Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Years active	1915-1927
Spouse(s)	John P. Squire (m.1938-1945)

Edna Purviance (October 21, 1895 - January 11, 1958) was an American actress during the silent movie 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 thirty films with him.

Early life

Edna Purviance (pronounced Purr-VYE-ance) was born in Paradise Valley, Nevada, to Louis and Madison Gates Purviance. When she was three, the family moved to Lovelock, Nevada, where they assumed ownership of a hotel property. 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 attended business college in San Francisco.

Career

In 1915 Edna Purviance was working as a secretary in San Francisco, when 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.

Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of his Essanay, Mutual, and First National films of 1915–1917. Purviance appeared in 33 of Chaplin's productions, 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 Chaplin never released—and Education de Prince, a French film released in 1927, just before she retired as an actress. She has been credited as an extra in Chaplin's final two American movies, Monsieur Verdoux and Limelight; Chaplin kept her on his payroll until her death.

Personal life

Although she was romantically involved with Chaplin for several years, Purviance eventually married John Squire, a Pan-American Airlines pilot, whom she wed in 1938 and who died in 1945. Recently silent films, in black-and-white and colour, have been discovered that show a glimpse into their life together from the late 1930s and early 1940s, and over 50 production stills from her unreleased film The Sea Gull, have also come to light. These stills have been published with the original title list from the film.

She died from throat cancer on January 11, 1958.

There is currently a petition drive to commemorate Purviance's career with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In other media

She was portrayed by Penelope Ann Miller in the film Chaplin, and more recently by Katie Maguire in the film Madcap Mabel (2009).

Filmography

References

1. This is not the way Purviance met Chaplin, according to Gerith von Ulm’s Charlie Chaplin – King of Tragedy, pp. 90-91.
2. Golden Silents
3. Edna Purviance Walk of Fame Petition Drive

External links

• Edna Purviance at IMDb
• Edna Purviance—tribute and research site
• Edna Purviance at Then & Now
• Biography of Edna Purviance
• Edna Purviance at Find a Grave

Template:Persondata

• Actors from Nevada
• American film actors
• American silent film actors
• Cancer deaths in California
• People from Humboldt County, Nevada
• Silent film comedians
• 1895 births
• 1958 deaths
• American actresses