Edwards Davis

{{short description|American actor, producer, and playwright (1873–1936)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Edwards Davis

| image = Edwards Davis - 1919 MPW.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1873|06|17}}

| birth_name=Cader Edwards Davis

| birth_place = Santa Clara, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1936|05|16|1873|06|17}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Magaret Kingore|1898|1900|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Adele Blood|1906|1914|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Jule Power||1932|reason=died}}

}}

| signature=Edwards Davis signature.png

}}

Cader Edwards Davis (June 17, 1873 – May 16, 1936) was an American actor, producer, and playwright of vaudeville and the silent film era, known as a character actor. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he was an ordained Christian minister and first achieved prominence as a sensational orator and lecturer, becoming known as the "poet-preacher" and the "Talmage of the West", before leaving the pulpit for an acting career. He wrote and starred in several original plays and vaudeville sketches, and appeared in over 50 films. In New York he was a president of the National Vaudeville Artists Association and the Green Room Club. In Hollywood he was a founder and president of the Masonic 233 Club. He was married to several actresses, including Adele Blood, who also appeared in some of his productions.

Early years and ministry

Cader Edwards Davis{{efn|Davis is also sometimes known as Edward Davis,{{cite magazine|title=Edward Davis Was at One Time a Western Minister |journal=The Moving Picture World |date=May 31, 1919 |page=1328 |url=https://archive.org/details/moving40chal/page/n841/mode/2up}} Cader Russell Davis,{{cite news |title=Preacher is Accused by Actress Wife of Being too Indecent, Asks Divorce |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MP19140118.2.5 |work=The Morning Press |date=January 18, 1914 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Adele Blood Sues Actor–Clergyman for Divorce |url=https://archive.org/details/caliweekly24pill/page/n41/mode/2up |work=The San Francisco Dramatic Review |date=January 17, 1914 |page=8}} and J. Edwards Davis.{{cite news |title="The Woman on the Jury" is Feaure Tonight on National Program; Presented by Fine Cast |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MM19250623.2.31 |work=Madera Mercury |date=June 23, 1925}}}} was born June 17, 1873, in Santa Clara, California, and raised in nearby Oakland.{{cite magazine|last1=Hammerton |first1=Cecil |title=The City of Oaks |magazine=The Overland Monthly |date=June 1896 |volume=26 |issue=162 |pages=700–701 |url=https://archive.org/details/overlandmonthly227sanfrich/page/700/mode/2up}}{{efn|Sources differ on his year of birth: it stated as 1867 in Stage Deaths (1991),{{cite book |editor-first=George B.|editor-last=Bryan|title=Stage Deaths: A Biographical Guide to International Theatrical Obituaries, 1850 to 1990 |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-313-27593-7 |page=334 |url=https://archive.org/details/stagedeathsbiogr0001unse/page/334/mode/2up}} and Silent Film Necrology (1995) {{cite book |last1=Vazzana |first1=Eugene Michael |title=Silent Film Necrology |date=1995 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=9780786401321 |page=82}} and Internet Broadway Database.{{cite web|title=Edwards Davis |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/edwards-davis-37462 |access-date=May 31, 2021 |website=Internet Broadway Database}} and as 1873 in Who's Who in Music and Drama (1914), and an Overland Monthly article. His age at death is recorded as 65 in contemporary obituaries. However, His age is recorded as 7 in the 1880 U.S. Census,"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6PM-Q1L : February 19, 2021), Cader Davis in household of W W Davis, Snelling, Merced, California, United States; citing enumeration district ED 42, sheet 333C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,068. and as 25 in a January 1899 news article. Davis himself wrote he left his former profession (as preacher) before age 25.{{cite news |title=Edwards Davis Tells Why He Left the Puplit for a Mask |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1903-10-24/ed-1/seq-4 |work=The Spokane Press |date=October 24, 1903 |page=4}}}} His father, William Wallace Davis, was a noted agriculturalist,{{cite news |title=Personal |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DCS18970920.2.10 |work=Colusa Daily Sun |date=September 20, 1897 |quote=W. W. Davis returned to Oakland today... His son, Rev. Edwards Davis, so well known both here and there, is pastor of the First Christian church of Oakland.}}{{cite news |title=William Wallace Davis is Stricken by Death |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19070610.2.36 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=June 10, 1907|quote=He is survived by three sons: Charles W. Davis of Portland, Ore., Gideon Davis, president of the Oakland Herald...and Edwards Davis of New York.}} and his brother Gideon became an advertising executive and editor of the Oakland Herald.{{cite news |title=Last Rites Held for Gideon Davis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53821534/obituary-for-gideon-davis-aged-77/ |work=Oakland Tribune |date=December 25, 1946 |pages=7}}{{cite news |title=A Newspaper Man Weded |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18970519.1.11 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=May 19, 1897 |quote=The ceremony was performed by Rev. Edwards Davis, brother of the groom}} He attended Washington College before earning an M.A. at the University of Kentucky.{{cite book |last1=Hines |first1=Dixie |last2=Hanaford |first2=Harry Prescott |title=Who's Who in Music and Drama |date=1914 |publisher=H.P. Hanaford |pages=85–86 |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinmusicdr00hana/page/84/mode/2up |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Actors and Clergy |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1924-06-15/ed-1/seq-68 |work=The Sunday Star |date=June 15, 1924 |location=Washington, D.C.}}{{efn|Cader Davis of Oakland, Cal., is listed as a student in the Kentucky University College of the Bible in 1891–92 and 1892–93 sessions.{{cite book |title=Annual Catalogue of the College of the Bible, 1891–92 |date=1892 |location=Lexington, KY |page=4|url=https://archive.org/details/universityofken9192univ/page/4/mode/2up}}{{cite book |title=Catalogue of Kentucky University, 1892–93 |date=1893 |location=Lexington, KY |page=31 |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofstat9297agri/page/n37/mode/2up}}}}

File:Rev. Edwards Davis caricature 1898 02.jpg

He began his ministry with short pastorates in Sullivan and Mattoon, Illinois, before returning to California, where he was pastor at Oakland's Central Christian Church for four years. He gained a reputation as an orator and lecturer, and was known as the "poet-preacher"{{Cite news|date=December 16, 1895|title=The Local News|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DCS18951216.2.15.2|access-date=|work=Colusa Daily Sun|quote=Edwards Davis, widely known as the poet-preacher...}} and the "Talmage of the West".{{cite news |title=Once Loved Her. Strange Confession of the Rev. Edwards Davis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14591447/evening-sentinel/ |work=Evening Sentinel |date=January 4, 1899 |page=1}} In less than two years membership in his congregation tripled and audiences swelled to see the minister dubbed by the New York Tribune: "actor-preacher, a word-painter, a patron of the waltz... and the most popular preacher in the city." He enacted scenes from Richard III in sermon to an audience of fifteen hundred people, and on another occasion sought to illustrate the innocence of dancing by giving representations of the waltz. He added footlights to his pulpit.{{cite magazine|title=Echoes from the Green Room |url=https://archive.org/details/theatre28unse/page/358/mode/2up |magazine=The Theatre |date=December 1, 1896 |location=London |page=358}} A writer for the San Francisco Town Talk recalled: "as a clergyman Edwards Davis was skilled in the arts of advertising. He was always doing something to attract attention to himself. He rode a wheel before bicycling became common, he wore a claw-hammer in the pulpit, he waltzed for his congregation."{{cite magazine|title=Edwards Davis Reappears |url=https://archive.org/details/town182sanf/page/n641/mode/2up |magazine=Town Talk |date=July 16, 1910 |location=San Francisco |pages=14–15}} He was an admirer of Irish author Oscar Wilde, and often billed himself as "the American Oscar Wilde" (a moniker originated by newspapers), but dropped the nickname after Wilde's arrest for gross indecency.{{cite news |title=The Reverend Mr. Davis Does Not Desire to Carry Out His Programme |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/80572294/ |work=Los Angeles Herald |date=May 5, 1895 |page=2 |language=en}}{{Cite news|date=March 28, 1895|title=How He Draws the Crowd; A Young Preacher Poses as Oscar Wilde and Recites Shakespeare in the Pulpit|url=https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=FRIHISL18950328.1.4&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Edwards+Davis%22------|work=The Islander|location= Friday Harbor, WA}} He defended agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll.{{cite news |title="Pope Bob" is Defended |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1898-06-06/ed-1/seq-5/ |work=The San Francisco Call. |date=June 6, 1898 |pages=5}} He offered to officiate a wedding in a lion cage at San Francisco's Chutes amusement park.{{cite news |title=Not Afraid of Lions |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18971128.2.20 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=November 28, 1897 |page=2}}{{efn|The proposed lion cage wedding did not occur.{{cite news |title=Married by a Justice |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18971130.2.54 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=November 30, 1897 |page=5}}}} The Oregonian wrote: "Davis' preaching ever bordered on the spectacular. His enemies said he did more harm to the church than good; his friends said he was one of the mainstays of the denomination".{{cite news |title=Former Minister Will be Seen at Orpheum |url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1910-06-26/ed-1/seq-41 |work=The Sunday Oregonian |date=June 26, 1910 |page=9}}

In early 1898, Davis became involved in a case involving convicted murderer Theodore Durrant that eventually led to Davis resigning from his church.{{cite news |title=A Durrant Echo |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18980123.2.121 |work=Los Angeles Herald |date=January 23, 1898 |page=2}} Davis visited Durrant in prison on January 6, the night before his execution, ostensibly to offer spiritual council, but was later suspected of being sent by the San Francisco Examiner to obtain an interview.{{cite book |last1=McConnell |first1=Virginia A. |title=Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of old San Francisco |date=2001 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Conn |isbn=978-0-275-97054-3 |pages=246–247 |url=https://archive.org/details/sympathyfordevil0000mcco/page/246/mode/2up}}{{cite magazine|last1=Diogenes |title=Plain Talks to Public Characters |journal=The Wasp |date=January 15, 1898 |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=8–9 |url=https://archive.org/details/waspjanjune1898unse/page/n63/mode/2up}} As reported by the San Francisco Evening Bulletin the next day, Davis had come in the service of a morning newspaper, and as he left Durrant's cell a scrimmage broke out in which Davis was very frightened. Durrant's father shouted "God! Haven't you any respect for a minister of the gospel?" A prizefighter who had been accompanying Davis attempted to intervene, was thwarted by a guard with a gun, and Davis was escorted to his carriage.{{cite news |title=Bulletin must go to court |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68960476/edwards-davis/ |access-date=January 31, 2021 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=January 9, 1898 |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}} The prizefighter was thought to be a bodyguard hired by the Examiner. Davis claimed libel, and sued the Bulletin for $50,000. The affair arose controversy within his church{{cite news |title=Rev. Edwards Davis May be Expelled |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980108.2.2.11 |work=San Francisco Call |date=January 8, 1898}} and the public, and he resigned from his ministry on January 23, 1898.{{cite news |title=Left the Pulpit |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980124.2.91 |work=San Francisco Call |date=January 24, 1898}} One week later, he married Alta Margaret ("Alice") Kingore, a choir singer from his congregation.{{cite news |title=A Bride From the Choir |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457578754/ |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=January 30, 1898 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Pulpit and Choir to be United |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980111.2.99.11 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=January 11, 1898 |page=11}}

In May 1898, Davis was accused of a variety of misconducts, including drunkenness and associating with "loose characters".{{cite news |title=The Actor Preacher Ousted |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980502.2.82.1 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=May 2, 1898 |page=9}} In August, a group of California ministers issued a proclamation stating he was no longer allowed to preach in the state.{{cite news |title=Edwards Davis Under the Ban |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1898-08-03/ed-1/seq-10 |work=The San Francisco Call |date=August 3, 1898 |page=10}}

File:Edwards Davis in The Unmasking 02.jpg

Vaudeville and Broadway

Davis and his wife, Kingore, moved to New York, where after secular business plans failed they found themselves stranded.{{cite news|date=April 18, 1900|title=Life Troubles of Three Prominent Ministers|page=12|work=The San Francisco Call|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1900-04-18/ed-1/seq-12}} His New York stage debut was in January 1889, with a one-line role as the Viceroy of India in The Cherry Pickers. He toured with Charles Coghlan's company in The Royal Box until Coghlan's November 1899 death,{{cite news |title=Topics in California |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1900-04-22/ed-1/seq-22 |work=The New-York Tribune |date=April 22, 1900 |page=10 |quote=Davis, after his retirement from the church, joined Charles Coghlan's company and remained with it till Coghlan's death. His wife also went on the stage, but illness compelled her to return to the home of her parents, in Oakland.}} and with Charles Frohman's The Adventures of Lady Ursula in 1900.{{cite news |title=Rev. Edwards is in New York |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19000514.1.4 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=May 14, 1900 |page=4}} Kingore also went into theatre, after Davis was incapacitated for several weeks with a broken foot. In April 1900 Kingore filed for divorce while Davis was on tour,{{cite news |title=Rev. Davis' Mad Love For His Pretty Wife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=4840244 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=April 19, 1900 |page=1}}{{efn|The Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Call published several letters from Davis to Kingore{{cite news |title=Love's Fire in Davis' Letters |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19000420.2.101 |work=San Francisco Call |date=April 20, 1900 |page=9}}}} and by December of that year he was stage manager for a Chicago production of The Devil and a Swede.{{cite news |title=Edwards James as a Stage Manager. The Oakland Preacher Who Used to Dance in His Pulpit is Heard from Again |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DCS19001229.2.28 |work=Colusa Daily Sun |date=December 29, 1900}}

His first play, The Seventh Commandment, premiered in 1901 starring Robert Downing with Davis in a supporting role.{{cite news|date=February 2, 1901|title=Downing's New Play|page=11|work=The Topeka State Journal|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016014/1901-02-02/ed-1/seq-11}} He spent the next few years with various companies, including Belasco and Mayer's The Dairy Farm, which premiered at San Francisco's Alcazar Theatre in August 1903.{{cite news|date=August 12, 1903|title=Edwards Davis Engages to Play at the Alcazar|work=The San Francisco Call|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1903-08-12/ed-1/seq-5}}{{cite news|last1=Fischer|first1=Will H.|date=October 21, 1903|title=Actor Edwards Davis Once Dancing Preacher|pages=5|work=The Spokane Press|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1903-10-21/ed-1/seq-5/}}

In the summer of 1903, Davis premiered and starred in a play of his own writing, a tragedy called The Unmasking which debuted in Oakland.{{cite news |title=Edwards Signs Contract to Tread Boards in Home City |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1903-07-07/ed-1/seq-9/ |work=The San Francisco Call |date=July 7, 1903 |page=9}} The play was panned by the Oakland Enquirer, which called it "simply gross, unredeemed by the spurious and shallow sentimentality with which it reeks".{{cite news |title=Edwards Davis is Roasted. The Oakland Enquirer Does Not Like the Tragedy Written by the Preacher |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DCS19030728.2.2 |work=Colusa Daily Sun |date=July 28, 1903 |page=1}} He would perform The Unmasking over 1,000 times, which gained the distinction of being the first successful tragedy to be performed in vaudeville.{{cite magazine|title=Edwards Davis |url=https://archive.org/details/movinwor26chal/page/n609/mode/2up |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=November 1915 |page=1643}} Davis and his company brought The Unmasking onto the vaudeville circuit in 1905, touring the Orpheum Chain before making a New York City premiere in August 1906 at Keith's Union Square Theatre.{{cite magazine|first=Sime|last=Silverman|author-link=Sime Silverman |title=Edwards Davis and Company. "The Unmasking." Keith's. |url=https://archive.org/details/variety03-1906-08/page/n75/mode/2up |magazine=Variety |date=August 25, 1906 |page=8}} A reviewer for Goodwin's Weekly called it "a great piece of work, uniquely modeled and beautifully finished... cannot be too highly commended," while reviews in Variety included "it requires attention and trimming", and "Suffers from being overacted. It was beautifully staged."{{cite magazine|last1=Young |first1=George M. |title=Correspondence: Philadelphia, PA |url=https://archive.org/details/variety04-1906-09/page/n81/mode/2up? |magazine=Variety |date=September 22, 1906 |page=11}}

File:Scene from The Strength of the Weak (1916).jpg and Harry Hilliard]]

Other original works by Davis included All Rivers Meet at Sea, The Kingdom of Destiny,{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 19, 1913|title=Poetry Invades Vaudeville|pages=10|work=Goodwin's Weekly|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2010218519/1913-07-19/ed-1/seq-10/|access-date=|issn=2163-6737}} and a dramatization of the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is among the book's earliest adaptations.{{Cite book|last=Tanitch|first=Robert|url=https://archive.org/details/oscarwildeonstag0000tani/page/370/mode/2up|title=Oscar Wilde on Stage and Screen|date=1999|publisher=Methuen|isbn=978-0-413-72610-0|location=London|pages=371}} Another play, The Blessed and The Damned, premiered at the Newark Theatre, New Jersey, in May 1915.{{cite news |title=The Two Hours Traffic of the Stage |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91064011/1915-06-01/ed-1/seq-10 |work=Newark evening Star and Newark Advertiser |date=June 1, 1915 |page=10}}

In New York City, his Broadway appearances included Daddies (1918–19) produced by David Belasco.{{cite news |title="Daddies" Charms First Nighters at Belasco Theatre |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=NYC19180911.2.99 |work=The New York Clipper |date=September 11, 1918 |page=10}}{{cite news |title=One of the Daddies |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1919-02-23/ed-1/seq-36 |work=The Sun |date=February 23, 1919 |location=New York |page=4}} He was a three-term president ("prompter") of the Green Room Club,{{Cite news|date=May 21, 1919|title=Edwards Davis Heads N.V.A.|url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=NYC19190521.2.67|access-date=|work=The New York Clipper}} and was elected president of the National Vaudeville Artists Association in 1919.{{cite news |title=Edwards Davis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/101885695 |access-date=January 30, 2021 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=May 18, 1936 |page=17|id={{ProQuest|101885695}}}}{{cite news |title=Edward Davis Elected Pres. of Nat'l Vaudeville Artists |url=https://archive.org/details/variety54-1919-05/page/n133/mode/2up |work=Variety |date=May 16, 1919 |page=7}}

Film

Davis appeared in over 50 films, from the silent era into early talkies,{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Charles |title=Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood |date=2000 |publisher=Dundurn Press |location=Toronto |isbn=978-1-55002-348-0 |page=235 |url=https://archive.org/details/stardustshadowsc0000fost/page/234/mode/2up}} and was known as a character actor. He had early film roles in Frederick Thomson's Her Mother's Secret (1915){{cite magazine|title=Four Fox Pictures Released This Month from the 5th |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew12moti_1/page/n923/mode/2up |magazine=Motion Picture News |date=December 18, 1915 |page=55}} and Lucius Henderson's The Strength of the Weak (1916). His performance in the latter was described as "too artificial and melodramatic to be convincing" by The Moving Picture World,{{cite magazine|last1=Denig |first1=Lynde |title=The Strength of the Weak |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor272movi/page/1658/mode/2up |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=March 11, 1916 |page=1659}} while Wid's Films and Film Folk called Davis "a splendid type" who "gave a smooth performance, with the exception of a number of places where he was inclined to register his gestures with a little too much of the theatrical touch."{{cite magazine |title=Acceptable Production of Rather Messy Sex Theme |url=https://archive.org/details/widsfilmsfilmfol02wids/page/n169/mode/2up |magazine=Wid's Films and Film Folks |date=March 23, 1916 |page=452}} By 1918 his film appearances included A Circus Romance, Who's Guilty, The Daughter of MacGregor, Transgression, The Victim, Bab's Matinee Idol, Dodging a Million, and De Luxe Annie.{{cite book |title=Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual |date=1918 |publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc. |location=New York |page=197 |url=https://archive.org/details/motrestu00moti/page/196/mode/2up}}

Davis' film roles in the 1920s included The New York Idea (1920), The Plaything of Broadway (1921), Hook and Ladder (1924), and The Woman on the Jury (1924).{{Cite news|date=June 27, 1924|title=Preacher Forsakes Pulpit for Movies|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MM19240627.2.20|access-date=|work=Madera Mercury}} The second half of the decade saw Davis in A Hero on Horseback (1927), A Reno Divorce (1927), The Life of Riley (1928), Happiness Ahead (1928), The Sporting Age (1928), A Song of Kentucky (1929),{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew1930moti|title=Motion Picture News Blue Book|date=1930|publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc.|location=New York|pages=60}} and Madam Satan (1930).{{cite magazine|last1=Wilk |first1=Ralph |title=A Little from "Lots" |journal=The Film Daily |date=June 16, 1930 |page=39 |url=https://archive.org/details/filmdailyvolume55354newy/page/168/mode/2up}}

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Margaret Kingore.jpg

| alt1 = Margaret Kingore

| caption1 = Margaret Kingore

| image2 = Adele Blood (April 23, 1886 – September 13, 1936) circa 1915.jpg

| alt2 = Adele Blood

| caption2 = Adele Blood

| image3 = Jule Power.jpg

| alt3 =Jule Power

| caption3 = Jule Power

| footer =Davis was married to three actresses.

}}

In Hollywood, Davis was a founder and president of the 233 Club, a Masonic organization of actors and motion picture workers.{{Cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedir00dire/page/n189/mode/2up|title=Fraternities of the Screen|magazine=The Motion Picture Director |volume=11|issue=7|date=February 1926|pages=58+60}} In his later years he wrote a book entitled Lovers of Life: An Epic Biography of a Soul.{{cite news |title=Character Actor Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35800745/edwards-davis-obit-la-times-18-may-1936/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=May 18, 1936 |pages=28}}{{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Edwards|url=|title=Lovers of Life: An Epic Biography of a Soul|publisher=The Baker and Taylor Co.|year=1934|location=New York|language=English|oclc=4425545}}

On November 25, 1906, Davis married the actress Adele Blood, who was a lead in The Unmasking. They divorced in 1914, and he was later married to the actress Jule Power,{{efn|Power is listed as "Mrs. Edwards Davis" by 1920.{{cite book |title=Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual |date=1920 |publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc. |location=New York |page=278 |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturestu00moti_0/page/n275/mode/2up}}}} who was named in his divorce from Blood. Power died in 1932,{{cite news |title=Film-Stage Star Dead |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1932-02-15/ed-1/seq-23/#date1=1930&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Jule+Powers&proxdistance=5&date2=1936&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=%22Jule+Power%22&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |work=Evening Star |agency=AP |date=February 15, 1932 |page=B-7}}{{efn|Davis wrote of her death in a spiritualist newsletter The Whisper.{{cite news|title=(Untitled)|first=Edwards|last=Davis|url=http://iapsop.com/archive/materials/whisper/whisper_v1_n5_oct_1932.pdf#page=6|work=The Whisper|location=Montague, MI|date=October 1932|volume=1|issue=5|pages=4–6}}}} and Davis died in Hollywood on May 16, 1936, after a two-year illness.{{cite news |title=Edwards Davis |url=https://archive.org/details/variety122-1936-05/page/n190/mode/1up |work=Variety |date=May 20, 1936 |page=54}}