Emma Dunn

Acting

Born February 24, 1874, Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Emma Dunn (26 February 1875 – 14 December 1966) was an English character actress on the stage and in motion pictures. Emma Dunn appeared onstage in her early teens, graduating to the London stage for several years and later became a noted Broadway actress. She appeared in the first American production of Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1906) with Richard Mansfield as Peer. She played Peer's mother, Ase, even though she was, in real life, 20 years younger than Mansfield. She appeared in three productions for theatre impresario David Belasco: The Warrens of Virginia (1907), The Easiest Way (1909) and The Governor's Lady (1912). In The Easiest Way, Dunn portrayed Annie, who was black, in blackface. In 1913 Dunn appeared in vaudeville. Dunn made her first film in 1914, a silent film of her 1910 stage success, Mother, directed by Maurice Tourneur. This was Tourneur's first American film. Dunn's second film was 1920's Old Lady 31, reprising the role she played in the 1916 Broadway play of the same name. One more silent film followed in 1924, Pied Piper Malone, before she made her talkie debut in Side Street, co-starring the Moore brothers, Matt, Owen and Tom as her sons. Dunn wrote two books on elocution and speech: Thought Quality in the Voice (1933) and You Can Do It (1947). Emma Dunn was born 26 February 1875, in Birkenhead, England, although she sometimes gave her year of birth as 1883. Dunn married Harry Beresford, an actor who was then known professionally as Harry J. Morgan, in Chicago on 4 October 1897. They divorced on 10 February 1909, in New York City. She was awarded sole custody of their young daughter, Dorothy. On 19 May 1909, Dunn married John W. Stokes (John W. S. Sullivan), an actor, playwright and theatrical manager. They subsequently adopted a second daughter, Helen. The couple divorced sometime between 1923 and Stokes' death in 1931. After suffering a heart attack some months before, Dunn died 14 December 1966, in Los Angeles, California, aged 91.

Filmography

• 1948The Woman in White — Mrs. Vesey
• 1947Life with Father — Margaret
• 1947Mourning Becomes Electra — Mrs. Borden
• 1946The Hoodlum Saint — Maggie
• 1944Are These Our Parents? — Ma Henderson
• 1944It Happened Tomorrow — Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
• 1944My Buddy — Mary Ballinger
• 1944The Bridge of San Luis Rey — Doña Mercedes
• 1943Hoosier Holiday — Molly Baker
• 1943Minesweeper — Mom Smith
• 1942I Married a Witch — Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
• 1942The Mad Martindales — Agnes
• 1942The Postman Didn't Ring — Martha Carter
• 1942The Talk of the Town — Mrs. Shelley
• 1942When Johnny Comes Marching Home — Ma Flanagan
• 1941Babes on Broadway — Mrs. Williams
• 1941Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day — Mrs. Martha Kildare
• 1941Ladies in Retirement — Sister Theresa
• 1941Mr. & Mrs. Smith — Martha
• 1941Rise and Shine — Mrs. Murray
• 1941Scattergood Baines — Mirandy Baines
• 1941Scattergood Meets Broadway — Mirandy Baines
• 1941Scattergood Pulls the Strings — Mirandy Baines
• 1941The Monster and the Girl — Aunt Della (uncredited)
• 1941The Penalty — 'Ma' McCormick
• 1940Dance, Girl, Dance — Mrs. Simpson
• 1940Dr. Kildare Goes Home — Mrs. Martha Kildare
• 1940Dr. Kildare's Strange Case — Martha Kildare
• 1940Half a Sinner — Granny Gladden
• 1940High School — Mrs. O'Neill
• 1940Little Orvie — Mrs. Welty
• 1940One Crowded Night — Ma Matthews
• 1940The Great Dictator — Mrs. Jaeckel
• 1940Yesterday's Heroes — Aunt Winnie
• 1940You Can't Fool Your Wife — Mother Fields
• 1939Calling Dr. Kildare — Mrs. Martha Kildare
• 1939Each Dawn I Die — Mrs. Ross
• 1939Hero for a Day — Emmy "Moms" Higgins
• 1939Son of Frankenstein — Amelia
• 1939The Llano Kid — Doña Teresa
• 1939The Secret of Dr. Kildare — Martha Kildare
• 1938Cowboy from Brooklyn — Ma Hardy
• 1938Lord Jeff — Mrs. Briggs
• 1938Thanks for the Memory — Mrs. Platt
• 1938The Cowboy and the Lady — Ma Hawkins
• 1938The Duke of West Point — Mrs. West
• 1938Three Loves Has Nancy — Mrs. Briggs
• 1938Young Dr. Kildare — Mrs. Martha Kildare
• 1937Circus Girl — Molly
• 1937Hideaway — Emma Peterson
• 1937Madame X — Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
• 1937The Emperor's Candlesticks — Anna - Olga's Housekeeper
• 1937Varsity Show — Mrs. Smith
• 1937Waikiki Wedding — Mother
• 1937When You're in Love — Mrs. Hamilton
• 1936Mr. Deeds Goes to Town — Mrs. Meredith (uncredited)
• 1936Second Wife — Mrs. Brown
• 1936The Harvester — Granny Moreland
• 1935Another Face — Sheila's Mother (uncredited)
• 1935George White's 1935 Scandals — Aunt Jane
• 1935Ladies Crave Excitement — Mrs. Phelan
• 1935Little Big Shot — Orphanage Matron
• 1935Seven Keys to Baldpate — Mrs. Quimby
• 1935The Glass Key — 'Mom' Madvig
• 1935The Keeper of the Bees — Margaret Campbell
• 1935This Is the Life — Mrs. Davis
• 1934Dark Hazard — Mrs. Mayhew
• 1934Dr. Monica — Mrs. Monahan
• 1934Flirtation — Mrs. Poole
• 1934The Quitter — Cordelia Tilford
• 1933A Man of Sentiment — Mrs. John Russell Sr.
• 1933Elmer, the Great — Mrs. Kane
• 1933Grand Slam — Reporter
• 1933Hard to Handle — Mrs. Hawks (uncredited)
• 1933It's Great to Be Alive — Mrs. Wilton
• 1933Private Jones — Mrs. Jones
• 1932Blessed Event — Mrs. Roberts
• 1932Broken Lullaby — Frau Miller
• 1932Hell's House — Emma Clark
• 1932It's Tough to Be Famous — 'Moms' McClenahan
• 1932Letty Lynton — Mrs. Darrow
• 1932The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood — Mrs. Sarah Cohen
• 1932The Wet Parade — Mrs. Chilcote
• 1932Under Eighteen — Mrs. Evans (uncredited)
• 1931Bad Company — Emma
• 1931Compromised — Mrs. Squires
• 1931Morals for Women — Mrs. Hutson
• 1931The Bad Sister — Mrs. Madison
• 1931The Guilty Generation — Nina Palmero
• 1931The Prodigal — Mrs. Farraday
• 1931This Modern Age — Margaret Blake
• 1931Too Young to Marry — Mrs. Bumpstead
• 1930Manslaughter — Miss Bennett
• 1930The Texan — Señora Doña Marguerita Granadas-Ibarra
• 1929Side Street — Nora O'Farrell
• 1924Pied Piper Malone — Mother Malone
• 1920Old Lady 31 — Angie Rose
• 1914Mother — Mrs. Wetherell