Mattie Edwards

Mattie Edwards (1866–1944) was an American actress who appeared in vaudeville theatre shows and early silent film productions from the 1880s through the 1930s. An African-American, she grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas and spent her early life as a Deputy Marshal for the town. Later, she joined the P. G. Lowery minstrel group and then films produced by Essanay Studios. She moved between multiple film studios in the years following, including Williams and Walker Co. films in the 1900s, Lubin Motion Picture Company and Ebony Film Company films in the 1910s, before ending her major roles in Comstock-Elliot company and Oscar Micheaux films in the 1920s. She had several smaller film roles and ongoing theatre roles in the decades after, before dying in 1944 at the age of 78.

Career While spending her childhood in the American frontier, Edwards was appointed a Deputy Marshal at the age of 16 for the town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Her earliest theatre performances were appearances in P. G. Lowery's minstrel group beginning in 1887. She also starred as the leading chorus member for Williams and Walker Co. films, particularly in their 1903 production of In Dahomey. frequently being paired up with John "Junk" Edwards as her accompanying male lead. She then joined theatrical productions made by the Ebony Film Company in 1918. For the 1919–1920 run of Oh Boy, Edwards joined a special theatre group formed by the Comstock-Elliot company. That same year, she featured in Oscar Micheaux films including Within Our Gates and The Brute. After, she moved to Los Angeles and occasionally starred in more minor film roles in the following two decades. The Virginian as Mrs. Henry My Killarney Rose (1916) as Nora Donovan Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1918) as Mrs. Schultz Oh, Boy (1919) as Mrs. Carter Ladies Night (1923) Why The Bachelor? (1924) Seduction (1925) The Devil Within (1927) This World and the Next (1929) as Rosie

Filmography Zeb, Zack and the Zulus (1913), a Lubin film Mandy's Chicken Dinner (1914) as Aunt Mandy as Mandy Jackson He Was Bad (1914) Rastus Knew It Wasn't (1914) as Nita Nonenti The Haunted Attic (1915) The Rakoon Hose Company (1915) It Happened on Washday (1915) The Undertaker's Daughter (1915) Black Art (1915) In Zululand (1915) as Queen Cocoa Within Our Gates (1920) as Jasper Landry's wife The Brute (1920) Champagne Waltz (1937)