[1] His father (also named Edmund Mortimer Olson) was a captain in the U. S. Navy.

As a boy, Mortimer sang in church choirs and participated in other musical activities in Brooklyn.

His military service included membership; in the Second Naval Battalion and in Company C, 23rd Regiment.

[1] Mortimer began acting on stage in 1904 and went on to perform with several theatrical companies.

[2] This article about a United States film actor born in the 1870s is a stub.