Brown-haired, brown-eyed American silent screen actress. Her parents were Michael (c. 1855-1949) and Elizabeth (Kurzenknabe) Koch (1865 - d. between 1930-1940), and she had at least five siblings: John W. (1885-1967), Lewis A. (1890-1930?), Elvira Sabina (Koch) Maher (1892-1978), Mildred T. (1896-?) and Elizabeth C. "Betty" (Koch) Whyte (1903-1995). Edna evidently had married a Mr. Reynolds somewhere between 1905 and 1914, but I cannot find a record of this. In 1914, while working as an actress for Thanhouser, Edna became engaged to actor Riley Chamberlin; it ended because, Reynolds claimed, "he had stipulated that she would have to cut off all home ties after marriage. She said she refused, though she loved him." Chamberlin, on the other hand, claimed that he "found that she was working [him] and getting all she could out of [him] . . ."
In November 1914, Reynolds was charged with second degree grand larceny after she refused to return a $250 diamond ring he claimed she was "forcibly detaining." Chamberlin said that "he gave her presents and lent her money which she never paid back, and as an engagement ring he allowed her to wear his $250 diamond until he should get her a more suitable ring." Reynolds "claimed Chamberlin gave her the ring and that he told many people so."
She would marry vaudeville clown and fellow Vim actor Frank "Spook" Hanson (r.n. Otto Henry Hanson) on 28 October 1915 in New York City, less than a year after the Chamberlin debacle; he left her a widow less than nine years later on 16 June 1924, succumbing to a lengthy illness. His obituary in Variety (18 June 1924) notes: "He leaves a widow, formerly a 'Kalem Picture' star, well and widely known as Daredevil Edna Reynolds, on account of the strenuous and dangerous stunts she performed in the making of Kalem pictures, when they were a big attraction in the film world. She was with Spook at the end, prepared for it, and yet the shock of the actuality has completely prostrated her, the couple being ideal companions."
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