Edna Purviance is an American silent and sound film actress. She is best known for the fact that the entire filmography of her roles (with the exception of one film) consists of paintings by Charlie Chaplin. The biography, creativity and personal life of the legend of world cinema Edna Purviance are presented in this article.
Early years
Edna Olga Purviance was born October 21, 1895 in a tiny village in the US state of Nevada. When Edna was three years old, her parents, who dreamed of their own business, sold the house and all the property and bought a small hotel in the city of Lovelock in the same state. But things did not go well, and four years later the Purviances were bankrupt. On this basis, Edna's parents divorced when she was only seven years old, the girl stayed with her mother. Soon the former Mrs. Purviance remarried. As the actress later admitted, her stepfather became closer to her than her own father, making up for that share of paternal love that the girl had not seen before in a series of endless parental quarrels. Pictured below is young Edna Purviance.
Mother and stepfather noticed earlyEdna grows beautiful, and from the age of ten they predicted her a career as an actress. However, from the arts, the girl preferred only music - by the age of 15 she played the piano perfectly, and after graduating from school she left for San Francisco, where she entered the College of Business and Finance.
Meet Charlie Chaplin
Despite her dreams of a career as a business woman, her parents' predictions came true, and twenty-year-old Edna unexpectedly became an actress. In 1915, aspiring director and actor Charlie Chaplin was filming his second film, The Long Night, near San Francisco.
He hadn't been able to find an actress for the lead role for several days, when suddenly one of the assistants introduced him to a business college student, Edna, whom he met in a cafe. Chaplin, fascinated by the natural beauty and grace of the girl, without thinking twice invited her to the picture. Edna, in turn fascinated by the young man with great ambitions, agreed. Thus began her film career and her first romantic relationship.
Despite the fact that the romance of Edna and Charlie lasted only three years, they parted as friends and continued to cooperate until 1952.
Creativity
Among Edna Purviance's films are 38 Chaplin-directed films and only one with another director. After her debut, in almost every picture of the comedy genius, Edna played the role of his bride or lover - even after the end of their romance. The first outstanding was the role of mother in the cult film 1921year "Kid", which became not only one of the most famous, but also the first feature in the filmography of Charlie Chaplin. In 1923, Edna played the main roles in the films "Pilgrim" and "Parisian" - in the latter, another actor became the partner of the actress for the first time.
In 1924, Edna played her last major role in the film "Woman of the Sea", and in 1927 she starred for the first time with another director - in the film "Training for a Prince" by Henri Diaman-Berger. After that, the actress left the cinema for a long twenty years. Despite this, Charlie Chaplin never forgot his girlfriend and muse, throughout all these years paying Edna a monthly salary. In 1947, he again invited Purviance to his film and she agreed, performing a cameo role in the film Monsieur Verdoux. Edna Purviance's last screen appearance was another cameo in the 1952 film The Fire Rumps.
Further destiny
After leaving film career in 1927, Edna Purviance again tried to start a business career, deciding to become a film producer, but for some reason she did not succeed. In 1938, she married John Squier, a Pan American pilot. Edna and John were happily married for seven years, until Squier's death in 1945.
Edna Purviance died of cancer on January 11, 1958 at the age of 62. At presenttime, a petition is being considered to install a star with the name of the actress on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
