James Edwards: “Someone Must Make a Stand” Posted by moirafinnie on October 17, 2007
Well, I was reminded recently of one Black actor whose groundbreaking legacy and distinctively thoughtful work—in whatever role he played, should be remembered by all who cherish classic movies and the artists and craftsmen who make them worth revisiting. Perhaps this column will encourage at least one person to seek out his films. One weekend about a month ago, I was watching an old movie called Fräulein (1958). As smoothly directed by old pro Henry Koster, the film is essentially a soapy tale documenting the privations and survival of a “good” German woman at the end of WWII and its aftermath. Starring a very reserved Mel Ferrer as an American officer who becomes involved with a young German woman, (Dana Wynter), it is a bit glossy despite the grim historical material of the story. Wynter‘s character suffers through near rape by Russian invaders and is almost forced into prostitution, though interestingly, this being the ’50s and Ms. Wynter being an actress remarkable for her composure, she remains quite prim and relatively unsullied throughout these desperate situations. The most engaging work in the movie is done by good actors in smaller roles, such as Ivan Triesault, Theodore Bikel and Helmut Dantine. As my attention drifted and I was ruminating about possible imaginary recasting of the movie and wondering if it would’ve seemed better in black and white, my reverie was broken by a scene near the end of the film. Wynter‘s past encounter with a prostitution ring in Berlin has appeared on her criminal record, making her exodus from her defeated country less likely, despite Mel Ferrer‘s earnest expression of a desire to marry her. This nearly impossible obstacle to a “Hollywood ending” seemed to be one of the more realistic touches in the film, but for the appearance of an almost angelic U.S. serviceman disguised as a desk clerk shuffling papers among the ruins: James Edwards. Mr. Edwards‘ slight of hand—deftly and surreptitiously removing the label of prostitute from the innocent and plaintive Miss Wynter‘s record—and then opening the door to her marriage & voyage to America with Mr. Ferrer—is completed in a few brief scenes. The part could’ve been played by anyone, but the casting of Edwards was one of the most fortuitous choices in this film. The fact that he is black lends a resonance to the scantily written part, but the way that he imbues the character with a dignified, reticent understanding helps make the end of this film much more moving than the previous 85 minutes would imply. We are shown the back of his head as he examines the records, and Edwards‘ face is almost always shown in profile in this small part, but as the catalyst for the denouement, he is a memorable figure of quiet but noticeable grace. My interest piqued in this actor’s work, I checked the TCMb to review his biography, only to find it…blank. Or rather, as the message on that web page states: “No biographical information exists for this person.” That’s not quite true. Unfortunately, as I researched this article, I learned that this dearth of recognition is not unusual for James Edwards. He is unjustly forgotten by most. Ask anyone over 30 about their memories of Sidney Poitier and they are likely to recall their first vivid impressions of him. Perhaps they can name his breakthrough film The Defiant Ones (1958), or In the Heat of the Night (1967), or—if they are really movie fans, the still searing No Way Out (1950). Bring up the name of James Edwards, however, and the reaction is much less likely to yield much recognition. A professional actor who appeared in movies for over 30 years, Mr. Edwards was a decade older than Mr. Poitier or Harry Belafonte, both of whose gifts, looks and timing were right for the social milieu of the late ’50s and ’60s. Edwards‘ groundbreaking work came just before the tide of social change began to crest, and the stardom of subsequent artists such as Poitier, Belafonte, and today’s contemporary actors such Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman have inadvertently helped to dim this earlier actors contributions. Raised in the Jim Crow era in Indiana, James Edwards managed to gain a college education at Indiana and Northwestern University, earning a B.S. in 1938 for dramatics, though he never pursued dramatics until a near tragedy led back to this path. While serving in the Army as a lieutenant during World War II, Edwards was seriously wounded in combat. Army surgeons literally had to rebuild his face, (and they did a splendid job, since he was a very handsome man). During his long convalescence, his doctors recommended that he take elocution to help his speech after his surgery. This reacquaintance with dramatics led him back to his original interest in dramatics. By late 1945, his talent and his rebirth as a method-trained actor was obvious enough to gain him a role in the controversial Broadway hit directed by Elia Kazan, Deep Are the Roots, which tells of an interracial love affair between white ingenue Barbara Bel Geddes and a black man in the South. James Edwards played Luther Hawkins, a young, single-minded fighter whose determination, self-discipline and untarnished hope that the fight game will be his ticket out of poverty is in sharp contrast to the washed-up boxer Robert Ryan. When Ryan looks at Edwards he sees himself as he once was. It is a small part, but as one of the crisply acted ensemble, James Edwards was distinctive—and not just because he was playing a part that endowed his character with considerable dignity and athletic skill. The intelligence and tension evident in his brief time on camera in The Set-Up were immediately obvious. What might not have been clear at this point was that Edwards would excel at portraying characters under pressure, and very often engaged in warfare in actual combat and in inner struggles, (Mr. Edwards would appear in no less than 12 movies with wartime settings). He would personify flawed, mortal men whose experiences would often highlight the similarities among people more than their differences. Here was a man who was neither the traditional slow-witted Stepin Fetchit variety nor an extraordinary, almost magical figure, such as the earlier actor Rex Ingram or the almost tragically talented Paul Robeson would occasionally be allowed to portray on screen. One other thing that might not have been clear at this early stage of his career was Edwards‘ reluctance to compromise. James Edwards had a leading man’s looks and was, in the words of his next employer, maverick producer Stanley Kramer, “an intelligent, cultivated actor with an excellent voice, and I was lucky to get him.” Home of the Brave(1949), based on Arthur Laurents‘ Broadway play about anti-Semitism in the Army, was made on a relative shoestring by Kramer, director Mark Robson and his production team under great secrecy, (and with the working title of “High Noon” several years before the same creative men made that film). Though it may be hard to believe now, the film aroused an enormous amount of enmity from segregationists at the time once it became known. These events lead Edwards‘ character to Army shrink Jeff Corey, whose ministrations eventually enable the Edwards character to emerge to take life on once again, despite the knowledge that for many he will always be “outside the human race.” In an ending that many may now regard as pat, a likable white Army buddy Mingo (the sincere and simply wonderful Frank Lovejoy) offers Edwards a partnership in a bar as he leaves the hospital. One contemporary observer, Vincent Canby looking back at such endings of these films, forgave the movie and other “problem” movies of the period for their well-meaning niceties, mentioning that at the time, they had “an unself-conscious immediacy and honesty not available in history that has already been analyzed. These films are raw material. They don’t dissemble. Even their false pieties and easy platitudes are historically important and, in the best way, entertaining.” Maybe that’s too neat, yet there is something about this movie, despite its low budget and sometimes awkwardly decent liberal attempts to grapple with the reality of racism and to show the human cost of it that is still deeply touching. As Lovejoy reads from one of his wife’s rhymes in a letter at one point in the movie, (which is actually a quote from poet Eve Merrimam), we’re reminded that an attempt to bridge the gaps between people has to start somewhere, and he reads: Only we two, and yet our howling can And frightened, we are everyone. In playwright Arthur Laurents‘ words, underneath, “we are all the imperfect same.” One of the reasons for this film’s still vivid power may lie in the brutal frankness of the all too familiar ugly language used, the conviction of all the actors to their characters, especially Steve Brodie in an utterly thankless role as a hateful bigot, and the performance of James Edwards. As Donald Bogle wrote in Blacks in American Films & Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Simon & Schuster), it is Edward’s “tension, restlessness, sensitivity, and admirable attempt to connect to or at least understand a white world that has continually rejected him make this a fascinating movie character.”
As Stanley Kramer recalled, the “initial public reaction to the picture was stupendous–complete and total acceptance.” Later, there would be the hate mail and threats that went with such a controversial film, but by and large, Kramer said, he kept a collection of letters and clippings that praised the complexity and courage shown by the movie, which was also a financial success, (and had been released prior to other race-themed films such as Pinky and Intruder in the Dust). One would think that t his would have marked James Edwards emergence as a star, but as events proved, his career was marked by numerous inconsistencies. There was also critical recognition for this film, and his performance was, as influential writer Bosley Crowther said in the New York Times review in 1949, “a finely tempered job, revealing the man’s inner torments from behind a frame of stoic dignity.” There would be a modicum of celebrity, some reported possible romances with ladies as different as Josephine Baker and Dorothy Dandridge as well as some tainting of
his career by HUAC as a “fellow traveller” due to his involvement with blacklisted individuals in the theatre and in film, such as Carl Foreman. Mr. Edwards also may not have endeared himself to the state department by his world tour with the Home of the Brave film, which included an alleged visit to Moscow during the frostiest years of the Cold War. He would go on the appear in numerous films, working with some of the best directors in the medium at the time, from Sam Fuller in one of the first and most effective films about the Korean War, The Steel Helmet (1951) to Fred Zinnemann in Carson McCullers’ Member of the Wedding (1952) to Stanley Kubrick’s breakthrough indie in The Killing (1956) to Anthony Mann’s examination of Men in War (1957) to Lewis Milestone’s effective meditation on the futility of war in Pork Chop Hill (1959) to John Frankenheimer’s brilliant Cold War thriller in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) to his final appearance as the attentive, insightful valet to George C. Scott’s Patton (1970).
Though I’ve seen all of these, the one other role that is almost as memorable as Home of the Brave, was director Mark Robson’s Bright Victory(1951). Once again, Edwards, as he did in The Set-Up with Robert Ryan, supports a fine actor, Arthur Kennedy in one of that man’s best roles of career. Playing a black man who has been blinded, he and Kennedy meet in the Army hospital for blinded servicemen where they are being trained to adapt to their war injury. Kennedy ‘s character, a Southern native, not realizing that his new buddy is an African American, casually uses the N word in his presence. When the camera focuses on Edwards silently stricken face as he hears this word the actor underplays a mixture of his pain, disappointment, inner fury and acceptance of the reality of the insult without overt histrionics. I realize that this film is justifiably celebrated for Kennedy‘s great performance, but for me, it is worth seeing as well for the level of James Edwards‘ acting.
The reasons for this relative ebbing away of his potential are numerous. While the timing of his career did not coincide with the demand for Black leading men that came later with the Civil Rights movement, there may also have been a reluctance on the actor’s part to take the kind of roles of the alleged “perfect Negro” as some have characterized the parts that Sidney Poitier took in such films as his Oscar winning Lilies of the Field (1963). While Edwards and Poitier both entered movies at the same time, it is possible that Poitier’s disarming manner was easier for audiences to relate to in that period. Perhaps too, Poitier was the more natural star, as his timely performance in Stanley Kramer’s The Defiant Ones would prove, while Edwards was simply a good, hardworking actor whose potential would find only fitful expression. One particularly astute observer of James Edwards‘ life at close range was fellow actor Woody Strode.
Another actor who personified dignified stoicism in his many roles, Woody Strode wrote in his autobiography, “Goal Dust” that he’d been introduced to James Edwards in his agent’s office. The agent had encouraged Strode to see Edwards‘ finest role in his career, Home of the Brave (1949). To Strode, the film was “probably the finest job that had been done by a black actor in the motion pictures. Eventually, after appearing in several undemanding non-speaking parts in movies, in 1958, it was James Edwards who landed a good role in Pork Chop Hill. He then proceeded to talk a reluctant Woody Strode into trying out for a speaking part working with the prestigious Lewis Milestone on a film. Strode, whose background as a great athlete had not entirely prepared him for the demands of acting, appreciated the generous help that Edwards also offered him on the set. Woody Strode appreciated his friend’s assistance and support, but when writing his memoirs, after a fine career which included appearances in classic films such as Sergeant Rutledge, Spartacus and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Strode knew that his opportunities might never have happened without his friend’s help, but he saw his mentor’s life clearly, writing that “Home of the Brave was the highlight of Jimmy Edwards’ movie career. There wasn’t much for him after that, and it broke his heart. He drank heavily, couldn “He got lulled to sleep by Hollywood because he thought he was an equal. He was a nice-looking black, dark, handsome and a great actor. He found out color was the whole thing. I had a personal relationship with Jimmy, and he warned me about becoming involved socially in Hollywood. He told me, ‘Woody, you’ll never be white. Don’t try to become part of their society.’ After seeing what happened to James Edwards, Strode concluded, “Look at the black actors. They’re starving to death. I’m not going to school to study, become an artist, and then fall apart.’ I never tried to take acting too seriously.” In his essay “The Shadow and the Act”, African American writer Ralph Ellison described himself as a “frontier figure”, one who is allowed to seek out his destiny, make rash, “quixotic gestures” and approach the world as full of possibility, unhampered by categorical limitations such as race. In a sense James Edwards‘ life was that of a pioneer, whose choices in forming his own identity may not have brought him the artistic gratification that all performers long for, but he made possible the careers of the Black actors who followed, including a Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman who took the path that he helped to clear of stereotypes. Sources: Bogle, Donald, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood, Random House, Inc., 2006.
37 Responses James Edwards: “Someone Must Make a Stand”
Posted By Alan K. Rode : October 17, 2007 5:22 pm I know a peer of Edwards who speaks of him most highly. Thanks for a great tribute to a trailblazing actor who needs to be remembered. Posted By RHS : October 17, 2007 6:34 pm While Donald Bogle's work is pioneering in its scope, there is certainly room for other opinions on black actors in film. I also think Bogle tends to ignore any evidence contrary to his thesis statement that blacks were unilaterally humiliated in servant and lackey roles. In later life, Mantan Moreland was very vocal about the Civil Rights movement, for all the good that it did, having effectively killed his livelihoood… but all you'll read about that in Bogle is that Moreland was grateful for not having to play chauffeurs anymore. Edwards' obituary in James Willis' Screen World annual brought me up short when I read it many years ago, being familiar with the actor but not knowing that he had died well before I ever saw him in anything. Posted By Beyonce Welch : October 17, 2007 8:24 pm Moira,Thank you very much for the excellent post. Posted By MDR : October 18, 2007 1:41 pm Another great article/exploration, Moira! Although it's a below average biography, The Joe Louis Story (1953) features another terrific James Edwards performance (he plays the fighter's trainer/manager 'Chappie' Blackburn). It was shown earlier this month on TCM as part of ther biopic spotlight. Posted By Kyle In Hollywood : October 19, 2007 10:53 am What a wonderful piece about a memorable actor. Did I know the name of of James Edwards? No. But does my memory contain his scenes from The Manchurian Candidate? Definitely and vividily. After reading this, James Edwards is now not just a face/actor but a complete person. Thanks for giving me that, Moira. I am most grateful. (And you've done Elvis Mitchell and Donald Bogle proud.) Kyle In Hollywood Posted By Christy : October 19, 2007 10:10 pm Thank you, Moira, for an insightful and compassionate post about Mr. Edwards. I can't wait for your next installment! Posted By Joe : October 22, 2007 2:42 pm Moira, a splendid piece on the underrated actor James Edwards.I'll never forget his strong performance as Private Moss in "Home of the Brave", among other films that you mention.I had Mr. Edwards lined up for my 'In the Spotlight' thread on TCM and I'm glad I didn't get to it since your profile is a far superior homage to him.It's a shame he didn't ride the crest of the wave, and that he died much too young.Thank you, Moira. Posted By robinallison : October 30, 2007 12:58 am i am delighted to read such a well-written and fascinating article on a very underrated though brilliant actor. i remember James Edwards in many a film, however have never taken the time to investigate this actor. as a black woman who is a enthusiatic fan of classic movies it has only been within the last year or so that i have decided to learn as much as i can about black actors from the studio era. Thank you very much for encouraging this fan to delve more deeply!! Posted By Vaughn : November 2, 2007 1:52 pm First black actor to play the role of a fighter pilot in a film. This was in the film Battle Hymn (1956). This was not done again until Iron Eagle (1986) with Lou Gossett . This should have been done sooner, given the World War II exploits of the "Tuskegee Aiman in Europe. This film was very inspiring in more than one way!!!! Pioneering actor who was among Hollywood's first – years ahead of Sidney Poitier – to crush the Stepin Fetchit stereotype of black males as shiftless illiterates. Although in some pictures Edwards would portray subservient characters (e.g. "General" George C. Scott's valet in 'Patton' (1970)), he delivered true dignity in his performances. He is especially remembered for his leading role in 'Home of the Brave' (1949). Posted By Greg : December 29, 2007 11:26 pm This newsletter is available on-line from the city where James Edwards grew up just outside of Chicago:Hammond Historical Society Newsletter – February 2005James Edwards – Star of Film, Television and StageMr. Edwards former Hammond, Indiana, resident is most remembered for his role in the 1949 movie Home of the Brave directed by Mark Robson. In the film Edwards played the part of Peter Moss for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. The Film Home of the Brave is noted as “Decades ahead of its time! Years before the (military) services are integrated, a black soldier is sent on patrol with an all white squad. More than just a story of racial tension in combat, this is a character study, a study of the true inner feelings of men and war, and bigotry that was and has been a James Edwards along with Lloyd Bridges take the acting honors, along with the entire cast for having the courage to take part in a film that was not well received in certain parts of the country. Edwards was considered a pioneering actor, among the first black Hollywood actors to break the stereotype of black men being portrayed as shiftless illiterates. He was years ahead of famed actor Sidney Poitier. In fact Edwards refused to accept any role that would depict or degrade a black man as “someone subhuman.” Born on March 6, 1918 in Muncie, IN, Edwards moved with his family to Ames Street in Hammond. After attending Hammond Public Schools the young Edwards went on to attend Knoxville College and Northwestern University of Drama. Although he had homes in San Diego, CA and New York City, NY he never forgot about his childhood growing up in Hammond. Edwards suffered a heart attack at age 51 at his home in San Diego, California, on January 4, 1970. He was survived by his wife Leola and his daughter Eugia. Here are a few of the many movies and television shows that Edwards appeared in. Films: Patton (1970), Coogan’s Bluff (1968), Pork Chop Hill (1959), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Home of the Brave (1949) Guest TV appearances: Mannix, The Virginian, Dr. Kildare, Death Valley Days, Peter Gunn, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Source information & photo from the microfilms of The Hammond Times newspapers January 1970, also from imdb.com * Quoted from imdb.com on the internet. Posted By Greg : December 30, 2007 12:25 am James Edwards was buried in 1970 at Evergreen Cemetery in Hobart in Northwest Indiana near where he grew up. His family lived in Hammond in the 1920's and 1930's. Although this was the Jim Crow Era, the public schools he attended in Hammond were not segregated. His tombstone indicates that he would have been only 51 when he died just shy of his 52nd birthday. The date of his birth would have been confirmed by his family members. There is a photo of it on-line here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7145761 Also, his obituary indicated he attended Knoxville College in Tennessee – not Indiana University. Knoxville College is a private, church-related, liberal arts institution and historically African-American. He also attended Northwestern University.His daughter Eugia Edwards Morse had three children with Robert Morse; Aja, Syna, and Alixander. Posted By Curtis Price : August 18, 2008 8:06 am Thanks for the fine overview of an under-rated actor’s tragic life. Like Canada Lee had, James Edwards too deserves a full length biography. Posted By pedro nieves : August 25, 2008 9:50 pm Moira. What a insight into black movie stars. I watch Mr. Edwards in all those films. You brought to light what a star he was. I only wish Hollywood would know this. Thanks for a bit of history. Pedro Posted By Robert Coepland : September 1, 2008 11:47 am Thanks for the fine mini-biography of a fine actor and great pioneer, James Edwards. I have always admired him and his work. Posted By moirafinnie : September 1, 2008 1:51 pm Thanks so much for these recent responses to my attempt to piece together some of the mosaic of the unjustly forgotten James Edward‘s life and career. Perhaps you’ll be interested in this anecdote about the actor that I found recently. When reading Foster Hirsch’s biography, “Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King” (Knopf), I came across a touching account indicating that during the pre-production work for Carmen Jones (1954), which eventually starred Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, a very young Diahann Carroll auditioned for the leading part in front of the intimidating director, Preminger. Performing tentatively, Carroll was asked by Preminger if she understood the part, which she explained was well beyond her experience. Ms. Carroll also was surprised that her kind and understanding partner in the scene at the tryout was James Edwards. Only a few years after making a remarkable film debut in Home of the Brave, Mr. Edwards was reduced to being “the back of the head” on camera for actresses auditioning for the plum parts in the film. Diahann Carroll also remembered that he was one of the most attractive men she’d ever met. She never forgot him. James Edwards did not appear in any role in Carmen Jones. Ms. Carroll was given a supporting role closer to her ingenue experience in the film. Posted By Edward Avant : September 2, 2008 11:56 pm It never ceases to amaze me how history is always misted when it comes to people of color. I can only wonder what Mr. edwards could have accomplished if he di not have to deal with the idiocy of racisim. I remember him in Patton but in honesty I did not see him as naything other than what I saw people of color protrayed as servants and laborers. After reading this piece I still am amazed at how things really are. Mr. Edwards you sound like you really undertood your craft and I wish you had been given the proper respect that you deserved for your mastery of your craft. I salute you and will look at all of your movies with a diffrent view and reverence. Thank you for your contributions and may god bless you:) Posted By Mona : September 4, 2008 1:49 am I was hungry for information on James Edwards (and a decent photo.) You provided both. Thank You so very much. Posted By Oso : September 12, 2008 12:01 am I’m interested to know, after watching HBO’s “The Blacklist”, Lou Gossett Jr. indicates James Edwards had been blacklisted due to an affair he had with a Caucasian actress. Any information on this? I have not been able to find any information on this at all. Posted By Patrick Cullitom : September 22, 2008 4:49 pm Awhile back, I found myself face-to-face with Quentin Tarantino as he was sort of being swept past me by an ocean of admirers. I shook his hand and congratulated him on the movie he had just premiered, Kill Bill One. I told him that if I ever had five minutes to talk with him I would talk about James Edwards in Steel Helmut. “James Edwards? The black actor?” I smiled, “Yeah. ” Tarantino said “Marvelous actor!” and as the crowd swept us apart, he turned and looked over everybody’s heads and said again, “Marvelous actor!” Lately, I’ve been hearing and reading some very nice things about James Edwards. A lady named Moira Finnie wrote a marvelous article about him called “Someone Must Make a Stand” (a quote from the movie “Home of the Brave”). I heard Donald Bogle call him “an unsung hero.” And in his commentary for “The Manchurian Candidate,” the late John Frankenheimer simply says when Edwards appears on the screen, “I’d wanted to work with Jimmy Edwards for years.” More and more of his movies and television shows have shown up on dvd, and people are re-discovering the artistry of James Edwards. Marvelous actor! I knew Jimmy Edwards very well. We were great friends the last five years of his life. I met James Edwards when I auditioned for a play he was directing: Haiti by W. E. B. Du Bois. This was in January, 1965. He cast me in a good part, thinking I was older than I was. After a rehearsal one night, a bunch of us were hanging out and talking under the marquee of the theater. I chanced to mention my uncle, Wallace Ford, and Edwards said, “Your uncle is Wally Ford?” I said, “You know him? Did you guys work together?” “You ask your uncle Wally if he knows James Edwards!” He went on,” Wally was in my first picture and he was wonderful to me. I’ve always loved him. I wrote a western called “Silent Thunder” and I wrote a part for Wally, the part of Waco. I sold it, it wound up being done as it Desilu Playhouse, they changed my script all around, but, there was still so much of Wally in the role of Waco that he got the part. You tell Wally Jimmy Edwards sends his love.” Jim and I weren’t friends yet, but, from that moment I was accepted into his extended family. Jim never showed me any favoritism, he was wonderful to all his actors in that cast. He taught all of us. He was always there for all of us. A few of the actors were his friends from earlier times. My friendship with James Edwards began the day that several of us actors and he took a truck over to the MGM Studios to pick up the sets and costumes which they were loaning to the production of Haiti. That day, Jimmy and I talked movies and theater and cowboys as we went through the prop and costume departments of MGM, borrowing whatever we needed for the play. This was before MGM had sold off anything. A lot of the larger set pieces were on the back lot so we had to walk and drive around the Andy Hardy Street, the Meet Me in St. Louis street, the train station from the Bandwagon, the Showboat. It was quite a day for all of us. Soon after, I mentioned to some of the guys that I was auditioning for a very big agency, GAC. Jimmy was with GAC at that time. He told me to come by his house to work the scene. He coached me and I made a strong impression and they signed me. Now, I was friends with Edwards, his wife Everdinne, and their baby, Eugia. One day, I showed up at rehearsal with a production photo from “the Set Up,” Jimmy’s first movie, and both he and Wally Ford were in the shot. I actually wanted to keep it. Only brought it in for show and tell. But Jim really loved it and I gave it to him. A little later, he asked me if I thought I could find any other stills of him from his pictures. He showed me a scrapbook he was putting together for his little girl. One evening, we were hanging out and baby sitting Eugia and he ran through his movie credits as I wrote down the titles. As he went down the list, I was stunned at the number of absolutely world-class, top directors he had worked with. Zinneman, Kubrick, Wise, Frankenheimer, Milestone, Minnelli, Robson, Dymytrik, Sam Fuller. I could go on. I think that at that time, I had only seen a few of his movies: “The Caine Mutiny,” “the Killing,” “Home of the Brave” and “Steel Helmet.” I was 10 when I saw “Caine Mutiny” and 13 when I saw “The Killing” in the movie theaters. “Home of the Brave” showed up on television fairly often in the late ’50s and early ’60s and I found myself watching it every time it was on. This was before I ever knew Edwards. Looking back, I believe Edwards was as brilliant an actor as Brando and Clift. Imagine, if you can, that after Marlon made his film debut in “The Men” and Clift appeared in “The Search,” that they, like Edwards, never played anything else but supporting roles for the rest of their careers. That they never played romantic characters in romantic relationships. Still, Edwards always made the most of what he was given. He brought his heart and soul to every role he played. And he was one of the most splendid exponents of what they call “the method.” Not to say he was a product of the Actors Studio. He had never been part of the Studio. But, he was part of the postwar movement toward realism and Kazan had directed him in “Deep are the Roots.” In fact, Edwards had assistant stage managed that play under Kazan before taking over the lead for the national tour. Like many of Jimmy Edwards’ well-meaning friends, I took umbrage at roles that I thought were not good enough for him like the mess steward in “Caine Mutiny.” Jimmy would have none of it. That character was as real a guy to him as Peter Moss in “Home of the Brave,” or the main character in Genet’s “The Blacks” on stage. He brought the same life to all his roles. All his characterizations were thoughtful, had depth and flesh and blood. The mess steward had a name. It was Whitaker and to hear Jimmy talk about that role you would have thought the whole movie was about Whitaker. Same heartfelt approach to everything he did. There was more than that. A friend, Joel Oliansky, who had seen Edwards star in “Nat Turner” in New York around ’53, told me, “He was solid electricity.” Joel later wrote a part for Jimmy in his play “Bedford Forrest” and had the thrill of seeing Jimmy play the role in a production at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theatre. And, according to Joel, he was solid electricity then, too. For years, Jimmy and some fellow actors took plays to churches. One of the ones they did was Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit,” a play about hell. In this hell, this play, the people never blink their eyes. And Jimmy didn’t blink within eyesight of the audience for the two hours he was onstage. He had that kind of concentration. Jimmy Edwards would do anything to help a friend. Actually, Jimmy would do whatever he could for anyone but he would go to hell and back for a friend. He was a workaholic. He was a talented writer. During the five years I knew him, he was always writing. He doctored scripts and wrote treatments at Wolper Productions the last couple of years of his life. He taught acting. He directed and acted in plays. Acted on TV and in films. He worked as he lived, intensely. I compared James Edwards with Brando and Clift. He actually reminded me more of John Barrymore and Errol Flynn. Jimmy had an intoxicating effect on women and they on him. Like Barrymore and Flynn, Edwards was also an alcoholic. Back in those days, so many of the people who worked in Hollywood were hard drinking World War Two veterans, that Jimmy didn’t particularly stand out. At least not to me. The guys might say he was a drinker (the women might say he was a drunk). Honestly, in those days, alcohol fueled a good portion of the movie industry. He also reminds me of Barrymore and Flynn because they were great actors, each revolutionary in his way. Six weeks before Jimmie died, he stopped drinking—on a dime, cold turkey. Many of his friends saw him during those weeks. He was so at peace. He looked young and healthy. Bud Moss, his agent, thought things were going to break for him. I thought he might get that Oscar he was robbed of— you know, a great supporting role in a hit film. My God, what an actor he was. It could have happened. George Scott got nominated for best actor for Patton just after Jim died. He spurned the nomination, of course, but told the L.A. Times, “Maybe I’ll accept the Oscar in James Edwards’ name. He deserved the Oscar 20 years ago and Sidney Poitier knows it.” I have a thousand James Edwards stories—maybe more— but I will tell two. The first took place on the movie lot which had been Republic and was Four-Star at the time. Jimmy was guest starring on a show called Amos Burke Secret Agent which starred Gene Barry. Edwards was playing a CIA man working under cover as a shoeshine stand owner (and operator). The camera and lights and crew were just starting their move over to the shoeshine stand set and Jim and Gene walked over to the set and started running their lines. Gene sat in the chair and Jimmy slapped polish on his shoes with his hand. A tour group of French film buffs happened by as Jimmy was getting into it, poppin’ the rag and all, and Gene, Jimmy, and I (who happened to be visiting) heard one say, “My God, is that James Edwards? Shining SHOES?” Maybe, in a way, it wasn’t really funny, but we laughed. I laughed just now thinking about it. The other story isn’t funny at all. The day Martin Luther King was assassinated, I was very distraught. He was a particular hero of mine. I worried about the future. I went by the Wolper building on the Sunset Strip and walked up to the third floor where Jim was writing in a little cubbyhole they had given him. I said, “How you doing?” He answered, “Fine. How about you?” he told me to sit down while he finished writing the page he was on. I let him work. Then he began to chat and I realized he hadn’t heard. I said, “You haven’t heard the news.” He said, “No, what?” and I told him. We sat there in silence. I had walked in stunned and now he was too. He threw down his pencil and said, “I can’t work anymore.” Then, he picked his pencil up and said, “No, I’m going to keep working. That’s what he’d want me to do.” He tried to write some more but couldn’t and asked me if I’d give him a lift home. He, Everdinne and Eugia were living at the Monticeto Hotel, which was always full of actors, mostly from New York. As we pulled up to the hotel, the news was playing Martin Luther King’s last speech. We sat there and heard Dr. King saying, “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” By the end of that year, I was in Vietnam. I got a couple of wonderful letters from Edwards. They were positive and uplifting. He was like that. He wrote that war is evil, we know that, but that mankind was still working its way toward the good. He told me to look through the evil and find the good. He wrote, “Forget the past, kid, it’s over. Don’t tried to figure the future, you can’t. The only acceptable time is now. If you are alive at all, you are in eternity— now.” That was just the kind of methody actor advice I needed. It is 38 years since James Edwards died and it still seems to me as if it happened yesterday. I can still hear Everdinne’s voice telling me, “Patrick, Jimmie died this evening.” When I got that call on January 4th, 1970, I had only been back from Vietnam three months. It had been a tough couple of years for me. Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, a year in Vietnam and then, Jimmy died. Jimmy’s family and friends were all devastated. I talked with Jim a great deal about acting. I discussed some of his roles with him. I watched “Home of the Brave” and “the Manchurian candidate” on TV with him. I rented “Member of the Wedding” on 16 mm and ran it for some fellow student actors and Jimmy came by and watched it with us. He told me about working in the Federal Theater when he was still in his teens. After the war, he seriously pursued acting. I believe he told me that his first professional job was as the chair pusher in “the Skin of our Teeth.” I don’t know if it was the very next thing that he did, but, he starred in an all black production of “Death Takes a Holiday.” At some point thereafter, he assistant stage managed “Deep Are the Roots” which was directed by Elia Kazan. He also understudied the lead and when the play went on tour, he took over the part. His leading lady was Gene Kelly’s wife, Betsy Blair. There were various racist incidents on the tour. In Minneapolis, there was a problem with local politicians who didn’t want see an interracial cast on the local stage. I think that’s what Jim said it was. The mayor of Minneapolis, Hubert Humphrey, was a complete anti-racist and, like Jim, a strict integrationist. Humphrey defended the production, came to see it, and visited with the cast. Jimmy always loved him. Jim met a lot of people on that tour including Einstein. When deep are the roots played the El Capitan Theater, this is not the theater on Hollywood Boulevard. In those days, the current El Capitan was called the Paramount and the theater that later became the Hollywood Palace was the El Capitan, Jimmy stayed in Gene Kelly and Betsy Blair’s guest house. He was signed by an agent named Lee Kramer, who was Stanley Kramer’s brother. Jim’s first film was “the Set Up” directed by Robert Wise. My uncle, Wally Ford, was in Jimmy’s first big shot. Wally is a dressing room attendant and Jimmy is a young fighter who is on his way up. Wally is taping Jim’s hands and Jim, as Luther Hawkins, is telling him what he’s going to do after he wins this fight. When I told my uncle Wally that Jimmy Edwards sent his love and told him I was working for Jim in a play, Wally spoke with great affection of Edwards then said, “I shouldn’t tell you this, but, Jimmy was scared to death that first day. We started working with each other and it got good. He relaxed.” Jimmy told me it was true. He was terrified and Wally got him laughing, and he and Wally grooved in his first shot in his first film. My uncle, Wallace Ford, was one of the most anti-racist human beings I ever knew. He told me that the greatest black actor he had worked with was Charles Gilpen, the actor who created the role of O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones.” Wally had worked with him in John Drinkwater’s “Abraham Lincoln.” When he told me that Gilpen had to enter the theater through the basement door and dress and make up in the theater basement, Wally’s eyes welled with tears. Later that year, he teared up when he told me, “A black man is going to win the Academy Award tonight.” He was talking about Sidney Poitier. Wally co-starred in one of Sydney’s movies: a “Patch of Blue.” Wally also co-starred in a movie with Paul Robeson in which he and Robeson enjoy an on-screen relationship that is way ahead of its time. They are almost doing a black and white Hope and Crosby. The movie was Jericho. Henry Wilcoxin was in it too and he and Wally proved they were good guys. No racist would have appeared in that picture in those bigoted, separate but equal, Jim Crow times. When Jimmy told me that his second movie was a film called “Manhandled,” I told him I’d never seen it. He ran through the cast for me, Dorothy Lamour and Alan Napier were in it ,he said. And he ran through the plot. He played a butler. He talked about the scene where the police interrogate him. I only mention this because from his description of the character he played, I assumed he had much more screen time than it turned out he had. Really, it was only a line or two. Much as a method actor such as Jimmy might want to be a star, he was always much more concerned about the inner life of a character. As always with his characterizations, that butler was a real human being. Edwards next film was “Home of the Brave.” It turns out to be the film he was born to make, the role that was his destiny. He was intensely proud of it. I know that because I watched it with him and he just delighted in his fellow actors performances and Tiompkin’s score and the points the movie made. We were watching “Home of the Brave” on television in 1966 when things were changing. He didn’t allude to the social and political pressures that were placed on him at that time. He just enjoyed the film. At the time that James Edwards was one of the most dynamic young actors in the world, while he worked a lot, the racists, the segregationists, and the anti-communists were always hot on his heels. I think perhaps the culmination of that was what occurred during the production of “Red Ball Express.” Jimmy was co-starring in the movie with Jeff Chandler when he was called to testify before the HUAC. Jim refused to testify saying, through his lawyer, that he had never been a member of the Communist Party and felt he could contribute nothing through his testimony. He had been on “Red Ball Express” for three weeks. Immediately following his rebuff of the HUAC, he was fired from the picture and replaced over the weekend with Sidney Poitier. There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether Edwards was fired before or after he began filming. He had been in front of the camera for three weeks on and off and those scenes had to be reshot with Sidney. I found this out after Jim died. That time he had been running through his screen credits for me chronologically. he included “Red Ball Express.” I said, “You were in Red Ball Express?” and he chuckled that gravelly chuckle of his and said, “Oh I was in “Red Ball Express.” Next time that movie was on TV, I scoured it for any sign of Jimmy. He wasn’t there. He never alluded to the reason he wasn’t there. I believe that the HUAC had nothing on James Edwards politically. He was absolutely a patriotic American. I am positive, though, that the committee was out to destroy him for being an integrationist. And they could destroy him just for being Jimmy. I believe that Jim made the right move in ducking the committee, but, the results were devastating to his career. He belonged to the NAACP and to CORE which were generally regarded back then as organizations which were subversive to the American way. Everywhere Jim went, in Hollywood and in other places, he was the first black person many people had ever seen in their neighborhoods and their workplaces in something other than a subservient job. I can’t tell you how true this was. Lloyd Bridges was telling Robert Hays about the political climate in the ’50s. Lloyd was blacklisted because he had belonged to the West Coast Group Theater. Anyway, he told Hays that he actually lived in a fairly hip neighborhood up in Nichols Canyon in the Hollywood hills. “But,” he told Hays, “When I had a black friend come to dinner, the neighbors called the police. My friend was an actor, driving a nice car, but the well-meaning neighbors, sensing trouble, called the cops.” The actor friend was Jim. The shocking thing is that when Jim and I were friends in the ’60s, that was still true. When Jim and his family moved to Laurel Canyon in 1965, they were the first black family that had ever lived in that neighborhood. And Laurel Canyon was a pretty hip place or was supposed to be. Jim’s work in “Bright Victory” and in “Member of the Wedding” has been written about (finally) but I would just add that in each of those roles, Jim is that guy he’s playing. One’s a blinded war hero and one is a musician who likes to make music, get a little high, and who hates the repressive society that is smothering him. I would just like to add that one night Jim was hanging out with me and a few other actors and I asked about how he had played a blind man, had he used contact lenses? He told us that Arthur Kennedy used contacts (Jim called him Johnny Kennedy) and that he had tried them but they hurt too much. He approached it a different way. He used his senses, but, not his sight. Well, he did it for us. Jesus, it was wonderful. He was the finest actor I ever saw. Jim always wanted to write and direct. He did write for movies and television and he directed many stage productions, but, one of his main ambitions was to direct in film. At one time, Otto Preminger made James Edwards his protege and they worked together on “Carmen Jones.” Among his other assignments, Jimmy played opposite the actresses who were screen tested. Preminger got nasty. He invariably did. He spoke to Jimmy in a way which was completely unacceptable to Jimmy. So, Jimmy grabbed a camera handle and chased him around the set. The apprenticeship was over. There were other projects that didn’t come to pass, at least not for Jimmy. Over a period of three years, Jim played what was to become the Sidney Poitier role in “the Defiant Ones” for various potential backers and in workshopping the script. Joe Mankewicz put Jimmy on a stipend and told him to build himself up to two hundred pounds. He wanted Jim to play Cleopatra’s closest advisor—in Shaw’s play the character is Apollodorus. Jim worked out for three months and got up to 200. Solid muscle from head to toe. Mankewicz had him strip down to gym shorts for the Fox execs. Everybody seemed to love the idea of Jim in the role. Then, the word came down. The producers didn’t want a negro that close to Liz. Everybody got rich on that picture while Jimmy doctored scripts and did guest stars. I saw James Edwards act several times. The most memorable was a scene in an episode of Mannix, a Paramount TV series about a private detective played by Michael Connors. I had been home from Vietnam about two weeks and I had by no means stopped shaking, but, it was time to see Jimmy and I called the number I had for Everdinne in San Diego. It was great to hear her voice. She knew I was back– my mother had called her when she knew I was coming home. She told me Jimmy was in town, on the Paramount lot. I drove over to Paramount and told the guard at the gate I was just back from Vietnam and I wanted to surprise my best friend who was working on Mannix. This was September, 1969, and the guy let me go on the lot. I slipped into the sound stage and onto the set. Jimmy and I had a joyful reunion and he introduced me to Corey Allen, who was directing. I had not met Corey, but, Jimmy had spoken of him many times. I knew of him from his many acting roles, particularly “Buz” in “Rebel Without a Cause.” He and Jimmy went back a long way. At one point, they produced two one-act plays at a theater in Hollywood. Corey directed Jimmy in one and Jimmy directed Corey in the other. It was getting close to time to shoot a long, rather difficult, master shot. It was melodrama of the first order. Mannix has been shot, nicked in the head, and it has caused him to go blind. Jimmy played a therapist who has come to the detective’s apartment to teach him to navigate in darkness. Jim and Michael Connors played this difficult scene with breathtaking power and grace. Everyone on the set applauded spontaneously when Corey said, “Cut.” I said to Corey, “I’ve been at war for a year. I’ve wondered would it would be like when I returned to the movie business. So I stumbled on to this set to greet a friend just in time to see the most beautifully executed master take I’ve ever seen. This was my welcome home.” Jimmy was standing there. He was proud. He and Mike Connors had nailed it. Corey said, “Come on. You’ve got to tell Mike,” and he took me over to tell Mike what I had told him. That was just about the last time James Edwards acted. And I had gotten back from Vietnam in just time to see it. Ten years later, I found myself auditioning for the role of a murder victim in a movie of the week pilot which Corey Allen was directing. I reminded him of that day. It meant as much to him as it did to me. I got the part and when I came on to the set, Corey walked up to me and said, “We’re working together at last,” and shook my hand. Back around that time, I found myself working with Gene Evans. I told him the same thing I had told George C. Scott: “I was a friend of Jimmy Edwards. In fact, I can honestly say he loved me as much as he loved you.” and Gene said, as George had, “I loved him.” I think Jimmy is kind of a patron saint to some aficionados of method acting. I mean, we can watch Edwards in all these diverse roles, bringing life, giving words on paper flesh and blood to live in for a while. Flesh, blood, heart and soul; there they are, those people he played. And it’s there in everything he did. In Moira Finnie’s wonderful article about Jim on the Movie Morlocks website, Miss Finnie mentions that Edwards played a messenger in a Tarzan knockoff in the ’50s. Actually, if I am thinking of the same movie, it actually is a Tarzan movie, but, Jim isn’t playing a a messenger. He is playing the most Methody, in the moment, flesh and blood, near Shakespearean witch doctor you ever saw. It doesn’t matter what the movie or television show happens to be, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s any good or not. If Edwards is in it, he will deliver, and those of us who have an almost religious attachment to the acting values exemplified by James Edwards and some of his contemporaries can take delight in it. Posted By TLC : September 25, 2008 10:11 am As a White man whose half Irish and half Jewish that grew up in an integrated neighborhood,I’d been aware of Edwards superior acting ability. Whether it was “Home of the Brave” or “The Killing” the camera loved him. I had known that an affair with a White woman ruined his career and it wasn’t until an old friend George C Scott got him a job in “Patton” that he came out of obscurity. Great article. Posted By andrea : September 26, 2008 12:24 pm I was unaware of this actor’s work until I came across this article, which appears to be one of the only resources about this actor on the internet. I’ve seen PATTON but never thought about the presence of George C. Scott’s aide until now. I hope to see more of James Edwards’ movies in the future. Posted By Carole Love : October 18, 2008 2:39 pm No one seems to remember that Jimmy had a wife and daughter. He married my best friend, Everdinne Wilson, who he dated while Everdinne was my roommate and just after we toured with Pearl Bailey. He has a beautiful daughter, Eugia Edwards Morse, who will be awarded her doctorate in psychology this fall, and three beautiful grandchildren. We are all proud of Jimmy and also of his family. Posted By moirafinnie : October 18, 2008 3:12 pm Hi Carole, I hope that this blog will prompt many more people to seek out James Edwards‘ excellent work on film and that his daughter knows that her father’s work is still vibrant on film. I really appreciate your taking the time to post here. Thank you. Posted By Eugia Edwards Morse : October 25, 2008 12:24 pm Hi, The daughter of a Great man …and a beautiful father Posted By Patrick Cullitom : November 1, 2008 3:17 am Everdinne Wilson’s IMDB is very inadequate. I used to see her on television. I babysat Eugia with Jimmy while Everdinne worked at Disney for three weeks on “Lt. Robin Crusoe.” Wikipedia ought to have a bio for her (it doesn’t). She acted on stage and had a professional singing career that began in her teens. Posted By charles edwards : December 29, 2008 6:57 pm To Moira , Paris in 1966 had a very large afro american community, musicians ,writers ,such as James Baldwin ,the left bank ,St Germain des Pres was the place where you could find a melting pot of new ideas away from any sort of racism. Posted By Nicholas de Seve : January 23, 2009 11:08 am Moira, Thank you for your recent letter to the Arts & Leisure section of The New Sincerely, To the Editor: Posted By Walter Lee : January 25, 2009 3:20 am Hi Im Walter Lee from Harrison Twp Michigan,Im an aspringing actor and writer who is african american,Ive been researching about James Edwards for years and wanted to know about him and acting career as an actor,when you hears news of Sidney Poitier Harry Belafonte,Ossie Davis,Gordon parks and other black actors-actresses you name it.You never too much of James Edwards,like Canada Lee,Woody Strode and others of the 40s and 50s,like singers of the 50s,like Johnny Ace,Guitar Slim,Larry Williams,Smiley Lewis,Chuck willis and others.More black stars of today like the Denzel,Will Smith,Wesley Snipes,Jamie Foxx,Morgan Freeman,Halle Berry Jada Pinkett smith Beyonce and others you hears of these black females stars like back then of Dorothy Dandrige,Ruby Dee Lena Horne,Eartha Kitt.James Edwards had read the part of Joe in Carmen Jones with Miss Dandrige but the part went to Harry Belafonte instead of James he was defeated and was favored of Harry,Sidney Poitier,Ossie Davis and others who have gotten the parts good parts then,James Edwards look he was blacklisted like so does Woody Strode to like Canada Lee and Paul Robeson,I hope in the upcoming future they will do more of them-movies of James Edwards life as well as of Canada Lee and Woody Strode along with Smiley Lewis,Johnny Ace Chuck Willis and others someday. Posted By Walter Lee : January 25, 2009 1:30 pm if James Edwards wouldve lived today and he died in 1970 before black films of the 70s hit the airwaves he wouldve gotten roles-the roles that Richard Roundtree have in Shaft,Ron O’Neal in Superfly,as well as the Fred Williamson,Jim Brown and the Edddie Murphy,Chris Rock and Tucker,Denzel,Will Smith and other black actors along with the Sidney Poitier,Harry Belafonte,Ossie Davis Posted By moirafinnie : January 25, 2009 2:24 pm Hi Walter, I was thinking particularly of Canada Lee just the other night when mentally comparing James Earl Jones‘ powerful performance in Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) to that of Mr. Lee‘s in the equally fine 1951 version of Alan Paton‘s beautiful, heartbreaking novel of South Africa. I hope you saw the James Earl Jones version the other night when it was broadcast on TCM and that you are able to check out the Canada Lee take on the same role in the rather rare earlier movie. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts on this subject. Posted By agent655 : March 1, 2009 12:07 am While Mr Edwards was blackballed for refusing to testify it is also rumored that he was blacklisted for an affair with a white female actress. Can anyone comment on the specifics. Who what where, etc? Posted By moirafinnie : March 1, 2009 8:58 am Hi Agent 655, I also suspect that many people may have absorbed the innuendos cast by such lurid (and often inaccurate) fifties’ magazines such as Confidential as fact. These opportunistic “journalists” rarely missed an opportunity to sell their wares by denigrating the reputations of public figures, many of whom were often unable to fight back for a variety of reasons. Many also confuse some of the details of James Edwards life with that of his slightly younger contemporary, Sammy Davis, Jr. According to two well-researched recent biographies, “In Black and White: The Life Of Sammy Davis, Jr.” by Wil Haygood (St. Martin’s Press), and “Gonna Do Great Things” by Gary Fishgall (Simon and Schuster), the budding friendship between Mr. Davis and Columbia contracted star Kim Novak was quite serious, and both parties were under great pressure to break it off. The multi-talented Davis was later married to Swedish born actress May Britt, a then-controversial union which may have affected the couple’s career trajectory, since at that time, interracial marriage was illegal and anathema in many parts of American society. I have not seen any verifiable information about James Edwards private life in this matter and would prefer to report only on that which is accurate here. The focus of this blog was primarily on Mr. Edwards‘ career, not his private life. Posted By C.Mitchell : May 30, 2009 10:57 am Moira, I am a sixty year old african american man. I grew up in awe of the classic movie period. With James Edwards it was a definite awakening for me to see a handsome well spoken black man on the silver screen. I have seen most of Mr. Edwards work, and I am facinated by his ability to tranfer emotion in the his minimalist style. Thank you so much for your inciteful information. Mr. Bogle get to work. C.Mitchell Posted By tremell washington : July 24, 2009 10:58 am I never heard about this beautiful man until i heard mr. lou gosset talk of him he seemed to be hurt over the outcome of his career because of what happened to mr. howard and his affair with whomever this white woman was,,,at the end mr. gosset said “and you know who you are” then i began looking up information on this actor and it brought tears to my eyes because of a nother talented black man was treated wrongly…thanks for making information so i could read it…….like most people would like to know who was this young lady? Posted By W.Wray : July 29, 2009 10:25 pm I saw “The Set-Up” the other night on TCM and was reminded of my childhood memories of James Edwards. I recalled a handsome Black actor whose performances were notable for their dignity, which made them stand out from many others of that era. I wondered if others felt the same way. After some on-line research I wound up (not surprisingly) back at the TCM site. Ms. Finnie’s thoughtful article was truly a revelation and Mr. Cullitom’s remembrances were quite enlightening. It’s wonderful to see the reservoir of affection and information that does exist for this fine actor. I can’t help but think: Are we long overdue for a major biography or doctoral dissertation on the man and his work? Posted By cj : February 17, 2010 5:41 pm Unfortunately his career was thwarted by the political Hollywood machine and those people who were in charge of the studios at the time. It was NOT the general populace it was the people who pulled the strings at the studios that ruined him…not the people of this country> Leave a Reply |
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An excellent overview of an actor who is rarely praised or discussed but in many ways paved the way for actors like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Even his small parts in Kubrick's THE KILLING and Frankenheimer's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE are vivid and stand out in one's memory.