Enjoying a stage, screen, and television career that lasted almost seven decades, former child actress Edna Holland (often billed Edna M. Holland) appeared on stage under the management of the legendary David Belasco -- just like Mary Pickford, whom Holland followed into films in 1915. Cast as "The Other Woman," Holland menaced Pickford's rival Mary Miles Minter in Always in the Way (1915) and was equally intolerant of Hazel Dawn in The Feud Girl (1916), Marjorie Rambeau in Mary Moreland (1917), and Ruth Stonehouse in The Masked Rider (1919). The latter was a blood-and-thunder serial in 15 chapters and Holland played Juanita, scheming with arch villain Paul Panzer against the lissome Miss Stonehouse. By 1920, she was billing herself the rather formidable Mrs. E.M. Holland and returned to the stage. Surprisingly, Holland was back in films by the late '30s, now mostly playing professional women, such as teachers, nurses or secretaries. Making her television debut on the Lone Ranger program in 1949, Holland went on to appear on such popular shows as Lassie, Annie Oakley and The Andy Griffith Show. She retired after a bit part in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) and died from a ruptured aneurysm in 1982.
by Hans J. Wollstein
biography
