Irene Purcell

Irene Mary Purcell (August 7, 1896 – July 9, 1972) was an American stage and film actress whose career spanned Broadway productions and Hollywood films, with a particular concentration in comedies. She died in Racine, Wisconsin.

Purcell's Broadway career extended from 1924 to 1937 and encompassed a range of comedic productions. Her stage credits included J. Frank Davis' The Ladder (1926), Elmer Harris' The Great Necker (1928), Martin Flavin's Cross Roads (1929), and Frederic and Fanny Hatton's Dancing Partner (1930). She also appeared in Lynn Starling's The First Apple (1933), Dillard Long's A Good Woman, Poor Thing (1933), and Jean Ferguson Black's Penny Wise (1937). Her Broadway work additionally included Accent on Youth among other productions.

Her film career brought her to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she appeared opposite William Haines in the romantic comedy Just a Gigolo (1931), directed by Jack Conway and adapted from the play Dancing Partner. That same year, she took the lead role in director Sam Wood's The Man in Possession, based on H. M. Harwood's play of the same name, appearing alongside Reginald Owen and Robert Montgomery. In 1932, Purcell starred with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in The Passionate Plumber, directed by Edward Sedgwick. The film performed well commercially, and MGM simultaneously produced a French-language version titled Le Plombier amoureux. The New York Times noted that Purcell fit the mood of the comedy well.

Beyond film and Broadway, Purcell participated in a June 9, 1935 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast based on the play Candle-Light. In 1938 and 1939, she toured New Zealand and Australia with the play The Women.

On October 4, 1941, Purcell married Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., president of S. C. Johnson & Son and grandson of the company's founder, at his apartment in Chicago. The two had first met in 1938 in Australia. Following their marriage, the couple resided at Wingspread, a home designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Purcell served as a trustee of Ripon College, a member of the Governor's Council on the Arts in Wisconsin, and an adviser to the Johnson Foundation.