Edna Purviance(1895-1958)
- Actress
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).
