Edna Mae Harris

Biography

Edna Mae Harris was one of the best actresses of the Black race in the 1930s and 1940s. She starred in some of the best all black cast independently produced movies in the 1930s and 1940s. An attractive woman who had a soulful voice, personality, sex appeal, she was a triple threat to show business, for she could sing, dance, and act. She was the personification of an Harlem performer, sexy, vivacious, alive, hot and full of life. Edna found fame by playing in the stage and screen version of The Green Pastures (1936) as Zeba. Naturally audiences loved her, and she received glorious reviews. So it was no surprised when Hollywood asked her to repeat her role on screen and she repeated getting wonderful acclaim. During the Black Cinema, Edna Mae was very much in demand starring in some of the top black movies 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.