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Edna Purviance
Edna Purviance, silent film actress (SAYRE 8372) B&W.jpg
Purviance in 1923
Born
Olga Edna Purviance

(1895-10-21)October 21, 1895
Died January 13, 1958(1958-01-13) (aged 62)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation Actress
Years active 1915–1927
Spouse(s)
John Squire
(m. 1938; died 1945)

Olga Edna Purviance (/pɜːrˈv.ns/; 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

Edna Purviance was born in October 21, 1895, 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 the Singer 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

Edna Purviance 4
Purviance in Photoplay magazine, 1915

In 1915, Purviance was working as a stenographer 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 (45 km) southeast of San Francisco, in Southern Alameda County. He was looking for a leading lady for A Night Out.

"A Chaplin talent scout recognized potential in a pretty stenographer named Edna Purviance ... spotted sipping coffee at Tate's Café on Hill Street in Noe Valley."

"...Tate's Cafe on Hill Street. There she met Carl Strauss, in town scouting for a leading lady for the young Charlie Chaplin."

Chaplin arranged a meeting with her, but he was concerned that she might be too serious for comedic roles. Purviance still won the role.

EdnaPurviance
Purviance in The Adventurer (1917)

Edna Purviance was so closely associated with Chaplin on screen that trade reviewers took exception when she was away. Columnist Julian Johnson, reporting on Chaplin's solo performance in One A.M., wrote: "Congratulations, Mr. Chaplin, on speaking your piece so nicely, but—come on back, Edna!" The noticeably close relationship extended to the actors' private lives: Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of his Essanay, Mutual, and First National films of 1915 to 1917. The romance ended suddenly when Purviance read a newspaper report of Chaplin having married 16-year-old Mildred Harris.

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.

Purviance was peripherally involved in a scandal. She and Mabel Normand were guests of millionaire oil broker Courtland Stark Dines (1889-1945) on New Year’s Day 1924. Mabel’s chauffeur, R. C. Greer, alias Joe Kelly, got into an argument with Dines, produced a revolver and shot him, not fatally. As a result some cities banned A Woman of Paris.

Between Purviance's last film in 1924 and her death in 1958, Chaplin kept her on the payroll at $1000 a month.

1927–1958: Retirement and later years

For more than 30 years afterward, Edna Purviance lived quietly outside Hollywood. Purviance married John Squire, a Pan-American Airlines pilot, in 1938. They remained married until his death in 1945.

Chaplin kept Purviance on his payroll. She received a small monthly salary from Chaplin's film company until she got married, and the payments resumed after her husband's death. She later played bit roles in Chaplin's last two American movies, Monsieur Verdoux and Limelight.

“How could I forget Edna?” Chaplin responded to an interviewer after her death. "She was with me when it all began."

In her posthumously published memoir, actress Georgia Hale, who played opposite Chaplin in The Gold Rush (1925), reported that Chaplin always spoke affectionately of Purviance. Hale relates Chaplin’s account of an incident during the silent film era, when Chaplin and Purvience—he in “an old sweatshirt” and she in “a cotton house dress”—stopped at the exclusive Riverside Inn “looking like hoboes.” The head waiter, alarmed at the couple's appearance, ushered them to the back of the restaurant:

He seated [Edna and myself] behind a large pillar. While we were scanning the menu, some of the customers recognized us. The word spread like wildfire. Back rushed the [head] waiter, waving us to a nice table by the window, where we’d be visible to all his guests. But Edna remained seated and motioned to me to be seated…[the headwaiter] said “I’m so sorry, I thought you were just common people.” Edna looked at him and said sweetly, “We want to thank you for treating us like humble people. You have just paid us the highest compliment. That will be all. Please send us the waiter.”

Death

On January 13, 1958, Purviance died from throat cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, aged 62. Her remains are interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Filmography

EdnaPurviancePawnshop
Purviance in The Pawnshop (1916)
Happy Ending
Charlie Chaplin and Purviance in Behind the Screen (1916)
The Idle Class (1921) - Chaplin & Purviance
Chaplin and Purviance in The Idle Class (1921)

Short subjects

All short subjects directed by Charlie Chaplin.

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1915 A Night Out The Headwaiter's Wife
1915 The Champion Trainer's Daughter
1915 In the Park Nursemaid
1915 A Jitney Elopement Edna
1915 The Tramp Farmer's Daughter
1915 By the Sea Man in Top Hat's Sweetheart
1915 Work Maid
1915 A Woman Daughter of the House
1915 The Bank Edna, a Secretary
1915 Shanghaied Daughter of the Shipowner
1915 A Night in the Show Lady in the Stalls with Beads
1915 Burlesque on Carmen Carmen
1916 Police Daughter of the House
1916 The Floorwalker Manager's secretary
1916 The Fireman The Chief's Sweetheart
1916 The Vagabond Girl Stolen by Gypsies
1916 The Count Miss Moneybags
1916 The Pawnshop Daughter
1916 Behind the Screen The Girl
1916 The Rink The Girl
1917 Easy Street The Mission Worker
1917 The Cure The Girl
1917 The Immigrant Immigrant
1917 The Adventurer The Girl
1918 A Dog's Life Bar Singer
1918 Triple Trouble Maid
1918 The Bond Charlie's Wife
1918 Shoulder Arms French Girl
1919 Sunnyside Village Belle
1919 A Day's Pleasure Mother
1921 The Idle Class Neglected Wife
1922 Pay Day Foreman's Daughter
1923 The Pilgrim Miss Brown

Feature films

Year Title Role Director(s) Notes Ref.
1921 The Kid Mother Chaplin, CharlieCharlie Chaplin
1923 A Woman of Paris Marie St. Clair Chaplin, CharlieCharlie Chaplin
1926 A Woman of the Sea Joan von Sternberg, JosefJosef von Sternberg not released; destroyed lost film
1927 Éducation de Prince The Queen Diamant-Berger, HenriHenri Diamant-Berger
1947 Monsieur Verdoux Garden Party Guest Chaplin, CharlieCharlie Chaplin uncredited
1952 Limelight Mrs. Parker Chaplin, CharlieCharlie Chaplin uncredited
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