James Edwards

James Johnson Edwards (March 6, 1918January 4, 1970) was an American actor in films and television. His most famous role was as Private Peter Moss in the 1949 film Home of the Brave, in which he portrayed a Black soldier experiencing racial prejudice while serving in the South Pacific during World War II. Career Edwards 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 in the Federal Theatre Project. During World War II, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. After the war he appeared on the New York stage when he assumed the role of the war hero in the touring play Deep Are the Roots.