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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
February 24, 1874
Died
December 14, 1966
Place of Birth
Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
Emma Dunn
0.2 Popularity
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
5.5
Mrs. Vesey
The Woman in White
1948
6.3
Mrs. Borden
Mourning Becomes Electra
1947
6.6
Margaret
Life with Father
1947
5.2
Maggie
The Hoodlum Saint
1946
0.0
Mary Ballinger
My Buddy
1944
🎬
0.0
Ma Henderson
Are These Our Parents?
1944
6.7
Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
It Happened Tomorrow
1944
6.0
Doña Mercedes
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1944
5.0
Mom Smith
Minesweeper
1943
🎬
0.0
Molly Baker
Hoosier Holiday
1943
Credits
The Woman in White
as Mrs. Vesey
1948
5.5
Mourning Becomes Electra
as Mrs. Borden
1947
6.3
Life with Father
as Margaret
1947
6.6
The Hoodlum Saint
as Maggie
1946
5.2
My Buddy
as Mary Ballinger
1944
0.0
🎬
Are These Our Parents?
as Ma Henderson
1944
0.0
It Happened Tomorrow
as Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
1944
6.7
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Doña Mercedes
1944
6.0
Minesweeper
as Mom Smith
1943
5.0
🎬
Hoosier Holiday
as Molly Baker
1943
0.0
I Married a Witch
as Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
1942
6.8
The Talk of the Town
as Mrs. Shelley
1942
7.3
The Postman Didn't Ring
as Martha Carter
1942
0.0
The Mad Martindales
as Agnes
1942
5.0
Babes on Broadway
as Mrs. Williams
1941
6.4
Rise and Shine
as Mrs. Murray
1941
6.0
Ladies in Retirement
as Sister Theresa
1941
6.5
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1941
6.6
Scattergood Meets Broadway
as Mirandy Baines
1941
0.0
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
as Mirandy Baines
1941
0.0
The Penalty
as 'Ma' McCormick
1941
6.0
The Monster and the Girl
as Aunt Della (uncredited)
1941
5.8
Scattergood Baines
as Mirandy Baines
1941
6.0
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
as Martha
1941
6.2
The Great Dictator
as Mrs. Jaeckel
1940
8.3
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1940
6.8
Dance, Girl, Dance
as Mrs. Simpson
1940
6.4
One Crowded Night
as Ma Matthews
1940
4.0
You Can't Fool Your Wife
as Mother Fields
1940
4.5
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1940
4.6
Half a Sinner
as Granny Gladden
1940
5.1
Little Orvie
as Mrs. Welty
1940
7.0
High School
as Mrs. O'Neill
1940
5.5
The Llano Kid
as Doña Teresa
1939
0.0
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1939
5.6
Hero for a Day
as Emmy "Moms" Higgins
1939
0.0
Each Dawn I Die
as Mrs. Ross
1939
6.8
Calling Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1939
6.1
Son of Frankenstein
as Amelia
1939
6.7
The Duke of West Point
as Jack's Mother
1938
3.8
The Cowboy and the Lady
as Ma Hawkins
1938
6.1
Thanks for the Memory
as Mrs. Platt
1938
5.7
Young Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
1938
6.5
Three Loves Has Nancy
as Mrs. Briggs
1938
4.2
Cowboy from Brooklyn
as Ma Hardy
1938
4.0
Lord Jeff
as Mrs. Briggs
1938
7.1
Madame X
as Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
1937
6.2
Varsity Show
as Mrs. Smith
1937
6.2
Hideaway
as Emma Peterson
1937
4.0
The Emperor's Candlesticks
as Anna - Olga's Housekeeper
1937
5.2
Waikiki Wedding
as Mother
1937
5.5
Circus Girl
as Molly
1937
4.0
When You're in Love
as Mrs. Hamilton
1937
6.7
Second Wife
as Mrs. Brown
1936
0.0
🎬
The Harvester
as Granny Moreland
1936
0.0
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
as Mrs. Meredith (uncredited)
1936
7.5
Another Face
as Sheila's Mother (uncredited)
1935
4.2
Seven Keys to Baldpate
as Mrs. Quimby
1935
6.6
This Is the Life
as Mrs. Davis
1935
6.0
Little Big Shot
as Orphanage Matron
1935
6.0
The Keeper of the Bees
as Margaret Campbell
1935
6.0
Ladies Crave Excitement
as Mrs. Phelan
1935
4.5
The Glass Key
as 'Mom' Madvig
1935
6.4
George White's 1935 Scandals
as Aunt Jane
1935
4.0
Flirtation
as Mrs. Poole
1934
4.9
Dr. Monica
as Mrs. Monahan
1934
4.8
The Quitter
as Cordelia Tilford
1934
0.0
Dark Hazard
as Mrs. Mayhew
1934
5.4
A Man of Sentiment
as Mrs. John Russell Sr.
1933
0.0
It's Great to Be Alive
as Mrs. Wilton
1933
5.0
Elmer, the Great
as Mrs. Kane
1933
4.9
Private Jones
as Mrs. Jones
1933
0.0
Grand Slam
as Reporter
1933
3.7
Hard to Handle
as Mrs. Hawks (uncredited)
1933
6.9
Blessed Event
as Mrs. Roberts
1932
6.5
Letty Lynton
as Mrs. Darrow
1932
6.8
It's Tough to Be Famous
as 'Moms' McClenahan
1932
5.7
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
as Mrs. Sarah Cohen
1932
0.0
The Wet Parade
as Mrs. Chilcote
1932
5.8
Hell's House
as Emma Clark
1932
5.1
Broken Lullaby
as Frau Miller
1932
7.5
Under Eighteen
as Mrs. Evans (uncredited)
1932
6.6
The Guilty Generation
as Nina Palmero
1931
6.1
Compromised
as Mrs. Squires
1931
1.0
Morals for Women
as Mrs. Hutson
1931
3.7
Bad Company
as Emma
1931
4.6
This Modern Age
as Margaret Blake
1931
6.0
Too Young to Marry
as Mrs. Bumpstead
1931
0.0
The Bad Sister
as Mrs. Madison
1931
5.4
The Prodigal
as Mrs. Farraday
1931
3.3
Manslaughter
as Miss Bennett
1930
5.5
The Texan
as Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra
1930
5.8
Side Street
as Nora O'Farrell
1929
5.0
Pied Piper Malone
as Mother Malone
1924
5.0
Old Lady 31
as Angie Rose
1920
0.0
🎬
Mother
as Mrs. Wetherell
1914
0.0