Edna Foster was born in
Boston in 1900 to Anne Louise Ramsell Foster and Conrad Houteling Foster. Conrad Foster was a theater owner and eventual mayor of
Traverse City, Michigan. He had been in the entertainment business since 1889 and assistant treasurer for
Ringling Brothers circus for 14 years.
Entertainment career Foster acted in films for the
Biograph Company. She played both boys and girls in film. She received critical attention for her work "as one of the best known boy impersonators" in film. She was sometimes professionally known as "Billy Foster;" she selected the name herself. Edna Foster's older sister
Flora Foster, also an actress, died of heart failure as a teenager. Foster's favorite stage actress was
Blanche Sweet. She and her sister both enjoyed working with
D.W. Griffith and
Harry Carey. She enjoyed sewing,
ragtime music, baseball, rugby, and dancing; her sister stated that Foster had aspirations for a career in ballet. In 1922, she was working as assistant treasurer for
Minksy's Burlesque. She had grey eyes. When she was fourteen, she had blonde hair she wore
bobbed. According to her father's obituary, Edna Foster was living in
New York City in 1940. == Selected filmography ==