Emma Dunn
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1874-02-24
Day of Death
1966-12-14 (92 years old)
Place of Birth
Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
Emma Dunn
Biography
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.
Known For
Acting
(1948)
The Woman in White
as Mrs. Vesey
(1947)
Life with Father
as Margaret
(1947)
Mourning Becomes Electra
as Mrs. Borden
(1946)
The Hoodlum Saint
as Maggie
(1944)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Doña Mercedes
(1944)
It Happened Tomorrow
as Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
(1944)
Are These Our Parents?
as Ma Henderson
(1944)
My Buddy
as Mary Ballinger
(1943)
Minesweeper
as Mom Smith
(1943)
Hoosier Holiday
as Molly Baker
(1942)
The Mad Martindales
as Agnes
(1942)
The Talk of the Town
as Mrs. Shelley
(1942)
I Married a Witch
as Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
(1942)
The Postman Didn't Ring
as Martha Carter
(1941)
Scattergood Meets Broadway
as Mirandy Baines
(1941)
Rise and Shine
as Mrs. Murray
(1941)
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
as Mirandy Baines
(1941)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
as Martha
(1941)
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1941)
Scattergood Baines
as Mirandy Baines
(1941)
Ladies in Retirement
as Sister Theresa
(1941)
The Monster and the Girl
as Aunt Della (uncredited)
(1941)
The Penalty
as 'Ma' McCormick
(1941)
Babes on Broadway
as Mrs. Williams
(1940)
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1940)
The Great Dictator
as Mrs. Jaeckel
(1940)
One Crowded Night
as Ma Matthews
(1940)
High School
as Mrs. O'Neill
(1940)
Half a Sinner
as Granny Gladden
(1940)
Little Orvie
as Mrs. Welty
(1940)
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1940)
Dance, Girl, Dance
as Mrs. Simpson
(1940)
You Can't Fool Your Wife
as Mother Fields
(1939)
Son of Frankenstein
as Amelia
(1939)
Calling Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1939)
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1939)
Each Dawn I Die
as Mrs. Ross
(1939)
The Llano Kid
as Doña Teresa
(1939)
Hero for a Day
as Emmy "Moms" Higgins
(1938)
Young Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
(1938)
Cowboy from Brooklyn
as Ma Hardy
(1938)
Lord Jeff
as Mrs. Briggs
(1938)
Thanks for the Memory
as Mrs. Platt
(1938)
The Duke of West Point
as Jack's Mother
(1938)
The Cowboy and the Lady
as Ma Hawkins
(1938)
Three Loves Has Nancy
as Mrs. Briggs
(1937)
Madame X
as Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
(1937)
Hideaway
as Emma Peterson
(1937)
Varsity Show
as Mrs. Smith
(1937)
When You're in Love
as Mrs. Hamilton
(1937)
The Emperor's Candlesticks
as Anna - Olga's Housekeeper
(1937)
Circus Girl
as Molly
(1937)
Waikiki Wedding
as Mother
(1936)
Second Wife
as Mrs. Brown
(1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
as Mrs. Meredith (uncredited)
(1936)
The Harvester
as Granny Moreland
(1935)
George White's 1935 Scandals
as Aunt Jane
(1935)
Little Big Shot
as Orphanage Matron
(1935)
The Keeper of the Bees
as Margaret Campbell
(1935)
The Glass Key
as 'Mom' Madvig
(1935)
Ladies Crave Excitement
as Mrs. Phelan
(1935)
Another Face
as Sheila's Mother (uncredited)
(1935)
Seven Keys to Baldpate
as Mrs. Quimby
(1935)
This Is the Life
as Mrs. Davis
(1934)
Dark Hazard
as Mrs. Mayhew
(1934)
Dr. Monica
as Mrs. Monahan
(1934)
Flirtation
as Mrs. Poole
(1934)
The Quitter
as Cordelia Tilford
(1933)
Hard to Handle
as Mrs. Hawks (uncredited)
(1933)
Elmer, the Great
as Mrs. Kane
(1933)
A Man of Sentiment
as Mrs. John Russell Sr.
(1933)
Private Jones
as Mrs. Jones
(1933)
It's Great to Be Alive
as Mrs. Wilton
(1933)
Grand Slam
as Reporter
(1932)
Broken Lullaby
as Frau Miller
(1932)
Letty Lynton
as Mrs. Darrow
(1932)
Blessed Event
as Mrs. Roberts
(1932)
Under Eighteen
as Mrs. Evans (uncredited)
(1932)
The Wet Parade
as Mrs. Chilcote
(1932)
Hell's House
as Emma Clark
(1932)
It's Tough to Be Famous
as 'Moms' McClenahan
(1932)
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
as Mrs. Sarah Cohen
(1931)
Morals for Women
as Mrs. Hutson
(1931)
Compromised
as Mrs. Squires
(1931)
The Prodigal
as Mrs. Farraday
(1931)
Bad Company
as Emma
(1931)
The Guilty Generation
as Nina Palmero
(1931)
The Bad Sister
as Mrs. Madison
(1931)
Too Young to Marry
as Mrs. Bumpstead
(1931)
This Modern Age
as Margaret Blake
(1930)
The Texan
as Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra
(1930)
Manslaughter
as Miss Bennett
(1929)
Side Street
as Nora O'Farrell
(1924)
Pied Piper Malone
as Mother Malone
(1920)
Old Lady 31
as Angie Rose
(1914)
Mother
as Mrs. Wetherell