Emma Dunn
Birthday: 1874-02-26
Place of Birth: Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
Synopsis
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.
Acting
The Woman in White
as Mrs. Vesey
A young painter stumbles upon an assortment of odd characters at an English estate where he has been hired to give art lessons to beautiful Laura Fairlie. Among them are Anne Catherick, a strange young woman dressed in white whom he meets in the forest and who bears a striking resemblance to Laura; cunning Count Fosco, who hopes to obtain an inheritance for nobleman Sir Percival Glyde, whom he plans to have Laura marry; Mr. Fairlie, a hypochondriac who can't stand to have anyone make the slightest noise; and eccentric Countess Fosco who has her own dark secret. The artist also finds himself drawn to Marion Halcomb, a distant relation to Laura for whom the Count also has plans.
Life with Father
as Margaret
A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
Are These Our Parents?
as Ma Henderson
A mother's preference for partying, boozing and running around with an assortment of sleazy characters results in her neglecting her nubile teenage daughter, who subsequently finds herself mixed up with horny teenage boys, scuzzy nightclub owners and murder.
My Buddy
as Mary Ballinger
A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang.
Hoosier Holiday
as Molly Baker
During World War II three brothers go to enlist in the Air Force, but since they're farmers they're told they're needed at home more than in the service. Determined to join up, they enlist the aid of a pretty young girl whose father is head of the local draft board.
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Minesweeper
as Mom Smith
A naval officer who had deserted several years earlier is drawn back to the Navy when World War II begins. He re-enlists under an assumed name, and is assigned to a minesweeper, where he has to perform hazardous duties while at the same time keeping his real identity a secret.
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The Talk of the Town
as Mrs. Shelley
Wrongfully jailed for arson, political activist Leopold Dilg escapes and takes refuge at the house of his childhood friend, Nora, unaware that she has recently rented it to a high-principled lawyer. Hilarity ensues as Nora tries to hide Leopold's identity from Professor Lightcap, while the two men enjoy spirited debates about their conflicting views of law.
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The Penalty
as 'Ma' McCormick
In this crime drama, a ruthless gangster's son is soon following in his father's footsteps. When his daddy kills an FBI agent and a cabby, the boy sees it all. Fortunately the courts intervene and send the lad off to live with a family of farmers.
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith
as Martha
Happily married for three years, Ann and David Smith live in New York. One morning Ann asks David if he had to do it over again, would he marry her? To her shock, he answers, "No". Later that day, they separately discover that, due to a legal complication, they are not legally married.
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Half a Sinner
as Granny Gladden
Although young and beautiful, schoolteacher Anne Gladden fears a dull future. She finally decides to take a walk on the wild side, splurging on some fashionable new clothes and setting off to find adventure. Her new confidence inspires her to flirt with complete strangers. When a gangster pays unwanted attention to her, she ditches him and flees in his car, unaware that there's a corpse in the trunk. Determined to recover his stolen vehicle and its incriminating cargo the thug begins a desperate search. The oblivious Anne, comes to the aid of a handsome young man stranded alongside the road. Romance blooms, but after the shocking discovery of a body in the trunk, the duo decide they have to return the car. The bickering lovebirds head back to the city, trailed by both the angry gangster and the cops, who suspect the young couple of murder.
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The Great Dictator
as Mrs. Jaeckel
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
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Son of Frankenstein
as Amelia
One of the sons of late Dr. Henry Frankenstein finds his father's ghoulish creation in a coma and revives him, only to find out the monster is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.
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The Llano Kid
as Doña Teresa
Lora Travers is the only person who can identify hold-up artist The Llano Kid and she persuades him to come in on a scheme with her and her husband. They have been searching for the long-lost son of a rich Mexican widow and they get the Kid to claim it is him. All goes according to plan until greed and jealousy raise their heads.
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The Cowboy and the Lady
as Ma Hawkins
Mary Smith decides after a lifetime of being a shut-in to do something wild while her father is out campaigning for the presidency, so she takes off for the family's home in West Palm Beach and inadvertently becomes romantically entangled with earnest cowboy Stretch Willoughby. Neither the dalliance nor the cowboy fit with the upper class image projected by her esteemed father, forcing her to choose.
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Three Loves Has Nancy
as Mrs. Briggs
A small-town country homebody goes to New York to find her missing fiancé and gets romantically involved with two sophisticated men.
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Young Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Martha Kildare
A medical school graduate takes an internship at a big city hospital, only to be subjected to a rigorous (and sometimes embarrassing) testing of his knowledge by the hospital's top dog, Dr. Leonard Gillespie.
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Circus Girl
as Molly
A jealous trapeze star decides he must eliminate his romantic rival.
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When You're in Love
as Mrs. Hamilton
An Australian opera singer hires a husband so she can work in the U.S. Moore sings "Minnie the Moocher" in one scene.
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The Harvester
as Granny Moreland
In a small town in Indiana in the 1890s, the domineering and ambitious Mrs. Biddle arranges a marriage between her spoiled daughter Thelma and the town's prize catch, harvester David Langston, who is wedded to the soil. David is friends with orphan Ruth Jameson and, although she is in love with him, he eventually gives in to the machinations of Mrs. Biddle and consents to marry Thelma. Meanwhile, technological advances come to town, including its first gasoline buggy, galvanic battery, and metal bathtub fitted with running water. When Mrs. Biddle tries to convince David to give up the farming life and join her husband in real estate, Mr. Biddle, hen-pecked and dissatisfied with city life, warns David against selling his farm.
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The Keeper of the Bees
as Margaret Campbell
A severely traumatized World War I veteran, believing that he's living on borrowed time, comes upon a peaceful little village and meets an old man called Bee Master and his protégé, Little Scout, who try to convince him that he has more to live for than he thinks he does.
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Ladies Crave Excitement
as Mrs. Phelan
Bored rich girl hooks up with news photographer, gets caught up in his adventures.
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The Wet Parade
as Mrs. Chilcote
The evils of alcohol before and during prohibition become evident as we see its effects on the rich Chilcote family and the hard working Tarleton family.
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Blessed Event
as Mrs. Roberts
A New York gossip columnist feuds with a singer and enjoys the power of the press.
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The Guilty Generation
as Nina Palmero
The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.
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Manslaughter
as Miss Bennett
A spoiled young rich girl is sent to prison for accidentally running down a pedestrian. There she learns about a life and people she had never even imagined existed before.
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The Texan
as Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra
Outlaw Llano Kid poses as a rich Mexican widow's son and falls in love with a cousin.
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Side Street
as Nora O'Farrell
Three New York Irish brothers cross paths as policeman, doctor and bootlegger.
