Career
In 1951-52, Purdom appeared in small roles with the Laurence Olivier/Vivien Leigh company on Broadway in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra when his good looks brought him to the attention of Hollywood. His appearance in small roles in Titanic and Julius Caesar led to his being cast in the leading role opposite Ann Blyth in the MGM musical The Student Prince in 1954, a part originally intended for Mario Lanza, whose disagreement with director Curtis Bernhardt over the way a certain song was to be sung had led to his dismissal by MGM. (The film was subsequently directed by Richard Thorpe.) Purdom lip-synched to Lanza's singing voice.
His other best-remembered role was as the title character in The Egyptian, 20th Century-Fox's most lavish production of 1954. In the same year, he appeared in another MGM musical, Athena, opposite his future wife Linda Christian, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds. He then played the title role in the biblical epic The Prodigal, MGM's most lavish production of 1955. He partnered with Ann Blyth again in The King's Thief (1955). After that, his career as a major film star ran out of steam, with the exception of some rare cameo appearances, such as The Yellow Rolls-Royce in 1964.
On television he starred as Marco del Monte in Sword of Freedom (1958), a swashbuckler made for ITC Entertainment.
Read more about this topic: Edmund Purdom
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