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