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Emma Dunn

Emma Dunn

Birthday: 1874-02-26 | Place of Birth: 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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1948
The Woman in White

as    Mrs. Vesey

1947
Life with Father

as    Margaret

1944
Are These Our Parents?

as    Ma Henderson

1944
My Buddy

as    Mary Ballinger

1943
Hoosier Holiday

as    Molly Baker

1943
Minesweeper

as    Mom Smith

1942
The Talk of the Town

as    Mrs. Shelley

1941
The Penalty

as    'Ma' McCormick

1941
Mr. & Mrs. Smith

as    Martha

1940
Half a Sinner

as    Granny Gladden

1940
The Great Dictator

as    Mrs. Jaeckel

1939
Son of Frankenstein

as    Amelia

1939
The Llano Kid

as    Doña Teresa

1938
Cowboy from Brooklyn

as    Ma Hardy

1938
The Cowboy and the Lady

as    Ma Hawkins

1938
Three Loves Has Nancy

as    Mrs. Briggs

1938
Young Dr. Kildare

as    Mrs. Martha Kildare

1937
Circus Girl

as    Molly

1937
When You're in Love

as    Mrs. Hamilton

1936
The Harvester

as    Granny Moreland

1935
The Keeper of the Bees

as    Margaret Campbell

1935
Ladies Crave Excitement

as    Mrs. Phelan

1932
The Wet Parade

as    Mrs. Chilcote

1932
Blessed Event

as    Mrs. Roberts

1931
The Guilty Generation

as    Nina Palmero

1930
Manslaughter

as    Miss Bennett

1930
The Texan

as    Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra

1929
Side Street

as    Nora O'Farrell