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'Lightoller' portrayer Edmund Purdom dies -- 1/1/09

posted 16 years ago by hobnob53
4 replies | jump to latest

Actor Edmund Purdom, who portrayed Second Officer Charles Lightoller in 1953's Titanic, has died. Purdom passed away in Rome, his home for almost half a century, on January 1, 2009, at the age of 84 (born December 19, 1924).

Titanic was Purdom's film debut, but why 20th Century Fox didn't give him a screen credit, despite his playing such a major role, is one of those numerous crediting lapses that so marked (and marred) Hollywood films from the 40s into the 60s.

R.I.P.

[–] Alfriend 15 years ago

Edmund Perdom was a gifted actor who had the distinction of replacing Marlon Brando in "The Egyptian". Brando dropped out at the last minute and Perdom stepped in ably.

[–] shrink54 15 years ago

He also had the distinction of destroying Tyrone Powers marriage. Power let him stay in his guest house when he was an up-and-coming actor, and Purdom repaid the favor by putting the moves on his wife!

[–] robin-moss2 12 years ago

"He also had the distinction of destroying Tyrone Powers marriage. Power let him stay in his guest house when he was an up-and-coming actor, and Purdom repaid the favor by putting the moves on his wife!"

. . . and where did you pick up that piece of scurrilous gossip?

[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

I can't speak to what Purdom may or may not have done with Mrs. Power (actress Linda Christian) in Hollywood, but by 1953 or so the Power marriage was getting rocky anyway, and Linda was known to have begun sleeping around with others well before the marriage ended. And I believe Purdom and Christian did have a long fling after her divorce, when she moved back to Europe and Purdom had relocated to Rome.

Ty was no saint either; he fooled around with a lot of women during his first marriage (to Anabella, 1939-1948), and enjoyed other female companionship during his second marriage as well, though apparently not to the same degree as during the first one. None of this is new or news, or particularly scurrilous. People are people.