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Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards (January 1, 1868 - May 1, 1937) was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era through the 1920s.

Born Edward Neumann into a Jewish household on New Year's Day, 1868 in Budapest, Hungary (then, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire), Edwards emigrated to the United States and became a very successful Broadway stage actor during the early twentieth century. His first show being the musical comedy Little Red Riding Hood which opened on January 8, 1900. Edwards would spend much of the early part of the twentieth-century periodically appearing on the Broadway stage in productions for such prominent stage directors as Arthur Hammerstein and Charles Frohman.

Edwards transitioned to films rather easily and was quickly lauded as a talented character actor. With his expressive and "homely" face, he was considered by many directors to be well-suited to light, comedic roles and often played characters written as a comic foil opposite starring actors. Ironically, it was his "homely", pliable features that eventually made Edwards a household name during the 1920s.

At his peak in the late 1910s and early 1920s, Edwards appeared with some of the most famous actors of the era, including: Mary Pickford, Clara Kimball Young, Barbara La Marr, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Wallace Reid, Lila Lee, Colleen Moore, Lionel Barrymore, Conrad Nagel, Owen Moore, Mildred Harris, Rod La Rocque, Ramón Novarro, Marion Davies and countless others. In 1925 he was cast in one of his most memorable roles, that of Florine Papillon in the Rupert Julian directed box-office hit The Phantom of the Opera, opposite Lon Chaney, Sr. and Mary Philbin.

Edwards was married to actress Eleanor Taylor and the couple had three daughters: Cricket, Evelyn and Marian.

Edwards also was personally chosen by actor and director Buster Keaton to act in three of Keaton's films: 1925's Seven Chances, 1926's Battling Butler, and the extremely popular 1927 film College.

By the early 1930s and the advent of talkies, Edwards career began to slow dramatically. Then in his 60s, suffering from crippling arthritis, the Hollywood film studios were very hesitant to cast the actor. Edwards' last role was an uncredited part in the 1931 William A. Wellman directed crime drama The Public Enemy opposite actors Jean Harlowe, James Cagney, and Joan Blondell.

Edwards died of natural causes on May 1, 1937 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 69. His wife Eleanor died in 1968.

• Snitz Edwards at the Internet Movie Database
• Snitz Edwards at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bio of Snitz Edwards at Anderson Toone.com