Edna Mae Harris

Actress

September 29, 1910 (86 years)

† September 15, 1997

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 as…

Filmography

7.5

Fury

Black Woman (uncredited)

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.

6.3

Stage Door Canteen

Sun Tan Girl (uncredited)

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of theatre and film appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.

6.6

Bullets or Ballots

Rose - Lee's Maid (uncredited)

After Police Captain Dan McLaren becomes police commissioner, former detective Johnny Blake publicly punches him, convincing rackets boss Al Kruger that Blake is sincere in his effort to join the mob. "Bugs" Fenner, meanwhile, is certain that Blake is a police agent.

6.7

Private Number

Lulu (Uncredited)

Ellen Neal, a young and inexperienced maid, becomes romantically involved with her employers son which causes various complications. The head butler also has an infatuation for the young girl but his intentions are not that good.

6.3

The Green Pastures

Zeba

God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.

N/A

I Remember Harlem

self

William Miles’s landmark epic documents the early settlement of the Village of Harlem in the 17th century to the specter of urban renewal and redevelopment in the 1970s. The film chronicles the centuries of change and political and artistic expression that has made this complex hamlet the capital of urban America.

10.0

Stolen Paradise

Maid

Robert Gordon, a sheltered 18-year-old youth reared in a Catholic school, believes he has a vocation for the priesthood. He is taken to live with his father in his palatial Florida home. There he falls in love with his step-sister, Patricia Morrow, ten years his senior. He runs away and joins the R.A.F. Shot down in battle, he is rescued and taken to a monastery where he renounces the world to study for the priesthood.

4.0

The Notorious Elinor Lee

Fredi Welsh

Gangsters use a woman to get to a boxer and convince him to throw a big fight.

7.3

Midnight Ramble

Self - Actress

A documentary chronicling the pioneering efforts of black filmmaker William D. Foster in the early years of the industry and Oscar Micheaux's controversial impact on the subsequent "race movies".

6.1

Spirit of Youth

Mary Bowdin

The story of the rise of boxer Joe Thomas, which paralleled the life of Joe Louis.

5.0

Paradise in Harlem

Doll Davis

It is the story of a comedian Lem Anderson who dreams of playing in Shakespeare scenes but he is applied only role in Harlem Vaudeville. One day he is the witness of a crime and the mobster strongly advised him to leave the town...

10.0

Sunday Sinners

Corrine Aiken

Reverend Jesse Hampton has a bone to pick with the management of Club Harlem, a wildly popular nightspot where drinking and dancing are the rule. No old-fashioned prude, the Reverend tries to see the positive side of the juke joint activities, knowing that the jitterbuggers are basically decent kids who just need to blow off a little steam. But the preacher sees red when the club opens on the Sabbath, threatening to turn the good townsfolk into Sunday sinners. An upcoming dance contest seems destined to become a showdown between the powers of light and darkness.

5.0

Lying Lips

Elsie Bellwood

A nightclub singer refuses to "date" customers, so she's framed for the murder of her aunt.

N/A

Legs Ain't No Good

Musical short

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