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Nevada's Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin
Hollywood's Forgotten Love Story Part 2
They were at First National in 1921 making his first feature, The Kid, when problems started. Charlie's marriage to Mildred Harris, shaky from the onset, was finally falling apart. First National and Charlie disagreed over how best to release the film, Mildred wanted her share of its profits, and Charlie was now besotted with child actress, Lita Grey.
He increased the young girl's part, moved Edna out of the best dressing room and moved little Lita in. Naturally Edna was livid. How dare he force her to take a back seat to some upstart child. Knowing how volatile Charlie could become when faced with opposition, Edna kept quiet. But she started to drink more. As a result, the once svelte Edna packed on unbecoming pounds.
They finished their last film for National, The Pilgrim, two years later and Charlie decided that Edna, at twenty-nine, was past her prime as far as comedy went. In truth she was still a beautiful woman, but he preferred his women younger. Alcohol and all night parties had taken their toll on Edna just as he had predicted they would.
To his credit, Charlie could not cast Edna aside. She had meant too much to him. He would help Edna by giving her a starring role in her own film. Recently he had joined Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in forming United Artists. Now, he would use his new found artistic freedom to write and direct a dramatic film for Edna; it would co-star, actor Adolph Menjou. The film, A Woman of Paris, set Menjou on the road to stardom but failed miserably at the box office. With the film's failure, Edna's career was finished. Decades later, out of kindness, Charlie offered her a bit part in his 1947 film, Monsieur Verdoux. Naturally she accepted.
Although they never married each other, Charlie and Edna maintained a certain loyalty toward one another until the end. In later years, while he was living abroad she corresponded regularly with him. She was a lonely widow who'd long since given up the idea of acting, but Charlie generously kept her on his payroll at a very comfortable salary until her death in 1958.
Edna Purviance; Nevada's Forgotten Movie Star More about Edna's early days from one of Nevada's leading writers, David Toll.
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