Edna Mae Harris

Born: 1910-09-29

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.


Placeholder

Fury

as Black Woman (uncredited)
Released: 1936-06-05

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to...

Movie page

Private Number

as Lulu (Uncredited)
Released: 1936-06-05

Ellen Neal, a young and inexperienced maid, becomes romantically involved with her employers son...

Movie page

Lying Lips

as Elsie Bellwood
Released: 1939-01-02

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

Movie page

Stolen Paradise

as Maid
Released: 1940-12-16

Robert Gordon, a sheltered 18-year-old youth reared in a Catholic school, believes he has a...

Movie page

Bullets or Ballots

as Rose - Lee's Maid (uncredited)
Released: 1936-06-06

After Police Captain Dan McLaren becomes police commissioner, former detective Johnny Blake...

Movie page

The Green Pastures

as Zeba
Released: 1936-08-01

God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are...

Movie page

Stage Door Canteen

as Sun Tan Girl (uncredited)
Released: 1943-06-24

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous...

Movie page

Paradise in Harlem

as Doll Davis
Released: 1939-01-01

It is the story of a comedian Lem Anderson who dreams of playing in Shakespeare scenes but he is...

Movie page

Spirit of Youth

as Mary Bowdin
Released: 1938-04-01

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

Movie page

I Remember Harlem

as self
First aired: 1981-02-01

William Miles’s landmark epic documents the early settlement of the Village of Harlem in the...

TV Show page