Black American actress. She was the sister of Florence Hoskins and the aunt of Our Gang child star Allen 'Farina' Hoskins and his onset guardian. She was previously married to auto garage mechanic Julius Neal, the marriage ending in divorce in 1936. In 1937, she married sheet metal laborer Melvin Bell, with Florence as witness. At the time, Edith was working as a beautician.
At least one source lists her birth and death dates as 16 September 1906 / Massachusetts - 18 August 1980. These are believed to be wrong.
Her Nevada Death Record at Ancestry.com says she was born "Massachusetts". This error is understandable because when the information for the NV Death Certificate was taken, she was age 91 and her husband, Melvin Bell (b.1901), had been deceased since 1985. As noted in her sister, Florence Hoskins' bio and 1920 Census, the Fortier/Hoskins Family had deep ties to Boston, MA. It should be noted that the Fortier sisters' Mom died when Edith was only 3 years old and their older sister died at age 13.
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