Emma Dunn
Acting
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.
Movies(97)
The Woman in White
Mrs. Vesey
1948
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mrs. Borden
1947
Life with Father
Margaret
1947
The Hoodlum Saint
Maggie
1946
My Buddy
Mary Ballinger
1944
Are These Our Parents?
Ma Henderson
1944
It Happened Tomorrow
Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
1944
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Doña Mercedes
1944
Minesweeper
Mom Smith
1943
Hoosier Holiday
Molly Baker
1943
I Married a Witch
Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
1942
The Talk of the Town
Mrs. Shelley
1942
The Postman Didn't Ring
Martha Carter
1942
The Mad Martindales
Agnes
1942
Babes on Broadway
Mrs. Williams
1941
Rise and Shine
Mrs. Murray
1941
Ladies in Retirement
Sister Theresa
1941
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1941
Scattergood Meets Broadway
Mirandy Baines
1941
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
Mirandy Baines
1941
The Penalty
'Ma' McCormick
1941
The Monster and the Girl
Aunt Della (uncredited)
1941
Scattergood Baines
Mirandy Baines
1941
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Martha
1941
The Great Dictator
Mrs. Jaeckel
1940
Yesterday's Heroes
Aunt Winnie
1940
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1940
Dance, Girl, Dance
Mrs. Simpson
1940
One Crowded Night
Ma Matthews
1940
You Can't Fool Your Wife
Mother Fields
1940
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1940
Half a Sinner
Granny Gladden
1940
Little Orvie
Mrs. Welty
1940
High School
Mrs. O'Neill
1940
The Llano Kid
Doña Teresa
1939
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1939
Hero for a Day
Emmy "Moms" Higgins
1939
Each Dawn I Die
Mrs. Ross
1939
Calling Dr. Kildare
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1939
Son of Frankenstein
Amelia
1939
The Duke of West Point
Jack's Mother
1938
The Cowboy and the Lady
Ma Hawkins
1938
Thanks for the Memory
Mrs. Platt
1938
Young Dr. Kildare
Mrs. Martha Kildare
1938
Three Loves Has Nancy
Mrs. Briggs
1938
Cowboy from Brooklyn
Ma Hardy
1938
Lord Jeff
Mrs. Briggs
1938
Madame X
Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
1937
Varsity Show
Mrs. Smith
1937
Hideaway
Emma Peterson
1937
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Anna - Olga's Housekeeper
1937
Waikiki Wedding
Mother
1937
Circus Girl
Molly
1937
When You're in Love
Mrs. Hamilton
1937
Second Wife
Mrs. Brown
1936
The Harvester
Granny Moreland
1936
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mrs. Meredith (uncredited)
1936
Another Face
Sheila's Mother (uncredited)
1935
Seven Keys to Baldpate
Mrs. Quimby
1935
This Is the Life
Mrs. Davis
1935
Little Big Shot
Orphanage Matron
1935
The Keeper of the Bees
Margaret Campbell
1935
Ladies Crave Excitement
Mrs. Phelan
1935
The Glass Key
'Mom' Madvig
1935
George White's 1935 Scandals
Aunt Jane
1935
Flirtation
Mrs. Poole
1934
Dr. Monica
Mrs. Monahan
1934
The Quitter
Cordelia Tilford
1934
Dark Hazard
Mrs. Mayhew
1934
A Man of Sentiment
Mrs. John Russell Sr.
1933
It's Great to Be Alive
Mrs. Wilton
1933
Elmer, the Great
Mrs. Kane
1933
Private Jones
Mrs. Jones
1933
Grand Slam
Reporter
1933
Hard to Handle
Mrs. Hawks (uncredited)
1933
Blessed Event
Mrs. Roberts
1932
Letty Lynton
Mrs. Darrow
1932
It's Tough to Be Famous
'Moms' McClenahan
1932
The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
Mrs. Sarah Cohen
1932
The Wet Parade
Mrs. Chilcote
1932
Hell's House
Emma Clark
1932
Broken Lullaby
Frau Miller
1932
Under Eighteen
Mrs. Evans (uncredited)
1932
The Guilty Generation
Nina Palmero
1931
Compromised
Mrs. Squires
1931
Morals for Women
Mrs. Hutson
1931
Bad Company
Emma
1931
This Modern Age
Margaret Blake
1931
Too Young to Marry
Mrs. Bumpstead
1931
The Bad Sister
Mrs. Madison
1931
The Prodigal
Mrs. Farraday
1931
Manslaughter
Miss Bennett
1930
The Texan
Señora Doña Marguerita Granadas-Ibarra
1930
Side Street
Nora O'Farrell
1929
Pied Piper Malone
Mother Malone
1924
Old Lady 31
Angie Rose
1920
Mother
Mrs. Wetherell
1914