Edna Tichenor

Edna Frances Tichenor

Tichenor attended primary and secondary schools in Los Angeles and was a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Shortly after her graduation, she married auto mechanic Robert J. Springer in 1919. The couple divorced in 1930. The same year, she appeared in two more films; the small role of Dolly Baxter in the Harry Beaumont 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 in an early role.

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 (1924), and two roles in 1926 film shorts simply billed as The Vamp. Tichenor is possibly best recalled for roles in two 1927 films 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 and starring Lon Chaney. The last known copy of the film was destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire.

Before quitting acting, Tichenor made appearances 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.

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 from a perforation of her cecum 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 Year Title Role Notes 1923 Drifting Molly Norton The Gold Diggers Dolly Baxter Incomplete film Maytime Cleo Uncredited 1924 One Night in Rome Italian Maid The Silent Accuser The Painted Lady 1925 The Merry Widow Dopey Marie Uncredited 1926 The Gosh-Darn Mortgage The Vamp Short Officer of the Day The Vamp Short 1927 The Show Arachnida - the Human-Spider Uncredited London After Midnight Luna, Bat Girl Lost Film 1928 West of Zanzibar Dancing Girl in Zanzibar Club Uncredited