Trivia

Living with her family in Santa Rosa, California, the nine-year-old caught the eye of Alfred Hitchcock while he was in town checking out exterior locations and prepping to make his film Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and she was on a street corner with her two cousins waiting for a bus. Edna and her mother took a train the next day to Los Angeles, was screen tested and hired although she had no experience whatsoever...not even in school plays.

Edna received no special training or coaching during the filming of Shadow of a Doubt (1943). She credits Hitchcock's clear and precise direction.

Bespectacled child actress who made a fine first movie impression as little Ann Newton who suspects her uncle, Joseph Cotten, of suspicious doings in her debut film, the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Edna went on to make several films over the next few years but none were bigger or better than her first.

Father was a grocer and ran a family store in Santa Rosa, California. She had a brother who accompanied her and helped her memorize her lines.

Abandoned her career in 1952 following marriage. She and her husband were married for 57 years and raised three sons.

Developed a "crush" on actor Joseph Cotten during the shooting of Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

Arizona: A retired great-grandmother. (January 2011)