Biography

Edmund Purdom

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Overview

Born
December 19, 1926 · Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Died
January 1, 2009 · Rome, Lazio, Italy (heart failure)
Birth name
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Mini bio

Gifted with aristocratic good-looks and a rich speaking voice, English-born thespian Edmund Purdom graced dozens of European genre films in a career that spanned over 50 years.

Born in Hertfordshire in 1926, although his year of birth was misreported as 1924 for many years, Purdom made his professional stage debut at age 19 and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for two years. He arrived on Broadway in 1951, acting opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in productions of Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" and Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra." A supporting turn in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar (1953) saw him cast in a string of lavish studio pictures as a lead, first as the face to Mario Lanza's singing in The Student Prince (1954) and then as a last-minute replacement for Marlon Brando in Older Women with Younger Girls (2003).

Although Purdom never achieved super stardom, he found no shortage of work in Italy for the rest of his life. He worked in nearly every major genre trend of the country's cinema, from sword-and-sandal epics, to stylish thrillers, to spaghetti Westerns to low-budget horror films. He was also a prolific voice artist, dubbing Italian films into English. He made a brief foray behind-the-camera as one of names attached to the Brit slasher Don't Open Till Christmas (1984), but its troubled production meant his directing career was a one-off.

Purdom was married to and divorced from Linda Christian, Alicia Darr, and Tita Phillips. He died on New Years Day 2009 in Rome, aged 82. He was survived by his widow, Vivienne Purdom, and his two daughters from his first marriage.
- IMDb mini biography by: Troy Schulz

Family

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Trivia

Holds the distinction of being the only personality to have his hand/footprints removed from the TCL (formerly Grauman's) Chinese Theater walkway. Purdom received the honor only six days after the premiere of The Egyptian (1954), which was only his third credited film (the first two being Julius Caesar (1953) and The Student Prince (1954)). Industry outcry was so great that his prints were swiftly removed, the space later occupied by the prints of Yul Brynner. Purdom's prints have since vanished, their whereabouts unknown to date.
Father of Lilan Purdom, a French television journalist.
Was typecast wearing togas in Hollywood costume dramas and European 'sword and sandal' epics, from the time he appeared on Broadway in "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Antony and Cleopatra", respectively in 1951 and 1952.
He was long based in Rome.
Began acting on stage in 1945.