Edmund Cutlar Purdom (19 December 1926 – 1 January 2009)[1][2] was an English actor, voice artist, and director.

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.

Raised Catholic, Purdom was educated by Jesuits at St Ignatius College, Stamford Hill, and, later, by Benedictines at Downside School.

[4] He began his acting career in 1946, aged 19, by joining the Northampton Repertory Company, appearing in productions that included Romeo and Juliet and Molière's The Imaginary Invalid.

[11] Advance word on The Student Prince was promising, and when 20th Century Fox needed an actor at the last minute to replace Marlon Brando as the title character in The Egyptian, its most lavish production of 1954, Purdom was cast over John Derek, John Cassavetes and Cameron Mitchell.

[12] MGM's head of production Dore Schary announced the studio would build up Purdom as a star.

[5] Hedda Hopper called Purdom "the most surprising and notable figure this year in Hollywood...a fine actor in the great romantic tradition.

[citation needed] There was more bad publicity when he had an affair with Linda Christian (when she was married to Tyrone Power) leading to him divorcing his first wife.

[21] Purdom returned to Broadway, appearing in Child of Fortune, an adaptation of Henry James's The Wings of the Dove, for Jed Harris.

Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times stated Purdom "plays the part of the faithless suitor like a cultivated gentleman but his style is heavy.

[23] In 1958, Purdom went back to the UK, where he played the lead role in Sword of Freedom (also known as Marco the Magnificent), a swashbuckler television series made for ITC Entertainment.

His films included Herod the Great (1959), The Cossacks (1960), The Loves of Salammbo (1960), Suleiman the Conqueror (1961) and Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile (1961).

Hedda Hopper wrote in response to this: "the truth is he did his best to become a star here, but he didn't make the grade – even with Mario Lanza's voice; but he did walk out on his wife and family and start gallivanting around with Linda Christian.

He had roles in TV movies and miniseries, such as Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (as Vittorio De Sica) and The Winds of War.