Name
Edna Mae Harris
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1910-09-29
Deathday
1997-09-15 (87 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Edna Mae Harris was one of the best-known Black actresses of the 1930s and 1940s. She starred in many all-black cast independently produced movies of the day. An attractive woman who had a soulful voice, personality and sex appeal, she could sing, dance and act. The personification of a Harlem performer, Edna found fame by playing in both stage and screen versions of The Green Pastures (1936) as Zeba. Audiences loved her, and she received glorious reviews, so it was no surprise when Hollywood asked her to repeat her role on screen to wide acclaim. Edna Mae was very much in demand starring in some of the top Black movies such as Spirit of Youth (1938), Paradise in Harlem (1939), Sunday Sinners (1940), The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940), and Tall, Tan, and Terrific (1946), showing her excellent acting skills in drama and comedy. Edna Mae Harris got to tell her story in her later years in the documentary, Midnight Ramble (1994), about independently produced Black films.
Known For
6.3
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famo...
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After Police Captain Dan McLaren becomes police commissioner, former detective Johnny Blak...
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God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are...
- 1939 Paradise in Harlem as Doll Davis
- 1938 Spirit of Youth as Mary Bowdin
- 1939 Lying Lips as Elsie Bellwood
- 1936 Fury as Black Woman (uncredited)
- 1936 The Green Pastures as Zeba
- 1940 Stolen Paradise as Maid
- 1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee as Fredi Welsh
- 1943 Stage Door Canteen as Sun Tan Girl (uncredited)
- 1940 Sunday Sinners as Corrine Aiken
- 1936 Bullets or Ballots as Rose - Lee's Maid (uncredited)
- 1936 Private Number as Lulu (Uncredited)
- 1942 Legs Ain't No Good
- 1994 Midnight Ramble as Self - Actress
- 1981 I Remember Harlem ( 4 episodes ) as self
