- Born
- Died
- Birth nameOlga Edna Purviance
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Edna Purviance began working as a stenographer in San Francisco. Charles Chaplin invited her to join him at Essanay Studio in 1915, the year of her film debut in Chaplin's His Night Out. Over the next seven years she appeared as his leading lady in over 20 Chaplin films made by Essanay, Mutual, and First National, including the classics The Tramp (1915), The Immigrant (1917), Easy Street (1917), The Kid (1921), and The Idle Class (1921). As a repayment for years of work with him, Chaplin intended real stardom for her with A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923). The movie was a commercial failure though it advanced the career of Adolphe Menjou. She remained on Chaplin's payroll until her death, her last two appearances being non-speaking extra parts in his Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952).- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- SpouseJohn P. Squire(1938 - 1945) (his death)
- After her retirement in 1926, Charles Chaplin kept her on his payroll for decades, showing her much more concern and consideration than he did to any of his former wives.
- Her relationship with Charles Chaplin became, at one point, romantic as well as professional (1915-1917). However, it was abruptly over after he was forced into a shotgun wedding with teenager Mildred Harris. Nevertheless, Purviance continued to be his leading lady. Her sweet, girlish counterbalance to his rambunctious antics had become a marketable commodity. It was speculated that if they had married, Chaplin could have been spared much of the domestic troubles and scandals that would plague him later in his life.
- Was Charles Chaplin's female lead for more films than any other actress in Chaplin's career.
- Interred at Grand View Memorial Park, Glendale, California, USA, in the West Mausoleum.
- She played Kitty Bradbury's daughter in three films directed by Charles Chaplin: The Immigrant (1917), The Kid (1921) and The Pilgrim (1923).
- Mr. Chaplin [Charles Chaplin] asked me if I would like to act in pictures with him. I laughed at the idea, but agreed to try it. I guess he took me because I had nothing to unlearn and he could teach me in his own way. I want to tell you that I suffered untold agonies. Eyes seemed to be everywhere. I was simply frightened to death. But he had unlimited patience in directing me and teaching me.
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