Edna Frances Tichenor (April 1, 1901 – November 19, 1965) was an American film actress whose career was most prominent in the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

era of the 1920s, affecting an onscreen vamp persona. She is perhaps best recalled for three roles in director

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...

films: the 1923 drama ''

Drifting Drifting may refer to: *Drifting (motorsport) *Pipe drift or drifting, measuring a pipe's inner roundness Film * ''Drifting'' (1923 film), a film directed by Tod Browning * ''Drifting'' (1982 film), the first Israeli gay-themed film * ''Drifting'' ...

'', the silent horror film '' London After Midnight'', and the drama '' The Show'', both released in 1927.

Early life

Tichenor was born in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

, to Ira C. and Hattie Tichenor (''née'' Craig). By 1904, the family relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where her father worked as a real estate editor for the '' Los Angeles Examiner'', then later as financial editor of the ''Salt Lake City Telegram'' in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, before returning to Los Angeles.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2'' p. 12615. McFarland; 3 edition. 2016. Tichenor attended primary and secondary schools in Los Angeles and was a graduate of

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

. Shortly after her graduation, she married auto mechanic Robert J. Springer in 1919. The couple divorced in 1930.

Career

Tichenor's first known credited role was as Molly Norton in the 1923

directed drama film ''

'', starring

Priscilla Dean Priscilla Dean (November 25, 1896 – December 27, 1987) was an American actress popular in silent film as well as in theatre, with a career spanning two decades. Biography She was born on November 25, 1896 in Manhattan, New York City to an activ ...

, Matt Moore and

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain interna ...

. It was produced and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. The same year, she appeared in two more films; the small role of Dolly Baxter in the

Harry Beaumont Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including Fox, Goldwyn, Metro, Warner Brothers, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Career Bea ...

directed comedy '' The Gold Diggers'' (1923) for Warner Bros., and an uncredited role as Cleo in the romantic drama '' Maytime'' (1923), directed by Louis J. Gasnier and featuring

Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...

in an early role.Hollywood.com
Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide: ''Edna Tichnor.'' Retrieved 9 August 2017. By the mid-1920s, Tichenor began affecting a somewhat sinister vamp onscreen persona; appearing in roles such as The Painted Lady in the Chester M. Franklin crime-drama ''

The Silent Accuser ''The Silent Accuser'' is a 1924 American silent crime drama film directed by Chester M. Franklin. The film stars dog star Peter the Great, Eleanor Boardman, and Raymond McKee. Plot As described in a review in a film magazine, while waiting for ...

'' (1924), and two roles in 1926 film shorts simply billed as The Vamp. Tichenor is possibly best recalled for roles in two 1927 films by directed by Tod Browning; the small role of Arachnida, a carnival sideshow performer who has the body of a spider and a woman's head, in the crime-drama ''The Show''; and as Luna, The Bat Girl in Browning's lost horror film '' London After Midnight'', released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

and starring

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

. The last known copy of the film known to exist was destroyed in the

1965 MGM vault fire On August 10, 1965, a fire erupted in Vault 7, a storage facility, at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio (MGM) backlot (now Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City, California. It was caused by an electrical short explosively igniting stored nitrate f ...

.''London After Midnight'' American Silent Feature Film Survival Database
/ref> Before quitting acting, Tichenor made an appearance in about twelve different movies. Her last known film appearance was a small role in Tod Browing's 1928 mystery film ''West of Zanzibar'', starring Lon Chaney and

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' A Free Soul'' (1931 ...

Personal life and death

Following her divorce from Robert J. Springer in 1930, Tichenor moved back in with her parents in Los Angeles. She later married Harry West. Tichenor died in 1965 at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2, ...

from a perforation of her

cecum The cecum or caecum is a pouch within the peritoneum that is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is typically located on the right side of the body (the same side of the body as the appendix, to which it is joined). The w ...

and blood poisoning with an intestinal obstruction following surgery to remove her uterus and ovaries, aged 64. She was cremated and her ashes were given to West.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tichenor, Edna 1901 births 1965 deaths American film actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from Saint Paul, Minnesota 20th-century American actresses Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni