One of the first African American actors to receive critical acclaim, James Edwards was born in Muncie, Indiana in 1918. He majored in psychology at Knoxville College in Tennessee and continued his education at Northwestern University where he received a master’s degree in drama. While enrolled at Northwestern, he participated in student productions and eventually made his mark on the New York stage when he assumed the role of the war hero in the touring play Deep Are the Roots. During his time on the West Coast, Edwards pursued film work and made his screen debut as the young prizefighter in the 1949 movie The Set Up. The same year, producer Stanley Kramer recruited Edwards to appear as the leading man in Home of the Brave (1949), Hollywood’s first post-war movie with racial prejudice as a central theme.  Kramer would cast Edwards in his most important screen role.  Edwards, who served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II, portrayed the soldier Peter Moss – a victim of racial bigotry who becomes emotionally distraught and paralyzed after the death of his two closest friends. Although he was widely praised for his characterization in Home of the … Continue reading James Edwards (1918-1970)