Edna Purviance

Edna Purviance on the cover of Photoplay magazine

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 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 a comedic role, she won the part (and for a number of years was his "off-camera" leading lady as well).

Purviance subsequently appeared in thirty-five of Chaplin's early 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: Sea Gulls, also known as A Woman of the Sea -- which was never released by Chaplin -- and Education de Prince, a French film released in 1926, just before she retired as an actress.

Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of the Essanay and Mutual films in 1916-1918. Thereafter, he retained tremendous affection for 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 that show a glimpse into Edna and Jack's life together from the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Edna is interred in the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.