Edmund Purdom

Edmund Purdom
Edmund Purdom in 1962
Born
Edmund Cutlar Purdom

(1926-12-19)19 December 1926
Died(2009-01-01)1 January 2009 (aged 82)
Rome, Italy
OccupationActor
Years active1950–2001
Spouses
Anita Phillips
(m. 1951; div. 1956)
Alicia Darr
(m. 1957; div. 1958)
(m. 1962; div. 1963)
Vivienne Purdom
(m. 2000)
Children2

Edmund Cutlar Purdom (19 December 1926 – 1 January 2009)[1][2] was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and eventually in Italy. He is perhaps best known for his starring role in 1954's historical epic The Egyptian.

By taking over important roles exited by Mario Lanza and Marlon Brando, Purdom was known by the mid-1950s as "The Replacement Star". After the failure of his Hollywood career, Purdom returned briefly to the United Kingdom and then settled in Italy, where he spent the remainder of his life appearing in local films. Between the 1970s and 1990s, he was a regular in European genre cinema, working with directors like Juan Piquer Simón, Joe D'Amato, Sergio Martino and Ruggero Deodato. His daughter, Lilan Purdom, became a journalist for French TV Channel TF1. She is the author of the book Hollywood Garage, about her father's career.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Obituary, lalibre.be. 2 January 2009. Accessed 1 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
    According to the Freebmd online index of births, marriages and deaths of the General Registry Office of England & Wales (Free UK Genealogy CIO, a charity registered in England and Wales, Number 1167484), Purdom was born Edmund C [Cutlar] Purdom and his birth was registered in the First Quarter of 1927.