Mattie Edwards

Mattie Edwards (1866–1944) was an American actress whose career spanned vaudeville, silent film, and Broadway across more than four decades. Born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Edwards was an African-American performer who began her public life far outside the theatre world: at the age of 16, she served as a Deputy Marshal for Fort Smith and, in that capacity, participated in the arrest of the Dalton Gang as part of the town's criminal court.

Her performing career began in 1887 with P. G. Lowery's minstrel group, marking her entry into professional theatre. Among her early stage credits was a 1903 appearance in the Williams and Walker Co. production of In Dahomey, in which she served as the leading chorus member. Her film work began during the silent era at Essanay Studios, where she appeared alongside Ben Turpin while he was still working out of a loft. A notable stage credit from the early 1910s was the Klaw and Erlanger production of The Round Up, which ran from 1911 to 1912, in which she played Josephine.

From 1913 to 1915, Edwards worked with the Lubin Motion Picture Company as the female lead in their productions, which featured a fully African-American cast. She was frequently paired with John "Junk" Edwards as her male lead. Her Lubin filmography includes Zeb, Zack and the Zulus (1913), Mandy's Chicken Dinner (1914), Coon Town Suffragettes (1914), and In Zululand (1915), among others. Following the Lubin Company's closure, she joined the Griffin Sisters theatre tour in 1917 as the leading contralto, then moved into productions by the Ebony Film Company in 1918.

For the 1919–1920 theatrical run of Oh Boy, Edwards joined a company assembled by Comstock-Elliot, playing Mrs. Carter. During the same period, she appeared in two Oscar Micheaux films: Within Our Gates (1920), in which she played Jasper Landry's wife, and The Brute (1920). Her stage work continued through the 1920s with credits including Ladies Night (1923), Why The Bachelor? (1924), Seduction (1925), The Devil Within (1927), and This World and the Next (1929), in which she played Rosie. Her Broadway appearance came in 1924 in the play The Main Line. She also appeared in The Bird of Flame in 1930.

Among her earlier theatrical roles were parts in The Candy Kid (1908), The Virginian as Mrs. Henry, Checkers as Aunt Deb, As Ye Sow as Mrs. St. John, Getting Her Rights (1915) as Marguerite Smith, My Killarney Rose (1916) as Nora Donovan, and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1918) as Mrs. Schultz. After relocating to Los Angeles, Edwards continued to take on smaller film roles, including Give Us the Night (1936) as Elena and Champagne Waltz (1937). She married Edward Settle and took the name Martha Mattie Settle. Edwards died in 1944 at the age of 78.