Known For
Acting
Born
Feb 24, 1874
Died
Dec 14, 1966
Place of Birth
Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
Credits
98 titles
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
Filmography
The Woman in White
Mrs. Vesey
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mrs. Borden
Life with Father
Margaret
The Hoodlum Saint
Maggie
My Buddy
Mary Ballinger
Are These Our Parents?
Ma Henderson
It Happened Tomorrow
Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Doña Mercedes
Minesweeper
Mom Smith
Hoosier Holiday
Molly Baker
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Ma Flanagan
I Married a Witch
Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
The Talk of the Town
Mrs. Shelley
The Postman Didn't Ring
Martha Carter
The Mad Martindales
Agnes
Babes on Broadway
Mrs. Williams
Rise and Shine
Mrs. Murray
Ladies in Retirement
Sister Theresa
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
Mrs. Martha Kildare
Scattergood Meets Broadway
Mirandy Baines
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
Mirandy Baines
The Penalty
'Ma' McCormick
The Monster and the Girl
Aunt Della (uncredited)
Scattergood Baines
Mirandy Baines
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Martha
The Great Dictator
Mrs. Jaeckel
Yesterday's Heroes
Aunt Winnie
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Mrs. Martha Kildare
Dance, Girl, Dance
Mrs. Simpson
One Crowded Night
Ma Matthews
You Can't Fool Your Wife
Mother Fields
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Martha Kildare
Half a Sinner
Granny Gladden
Little Orvie
Mrs. Welty
High School
Mrs. O'Neill
The Llano Kid
Doña Teresa
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Martha Kildare
Hero for a Day
Emmy "Moms" Higgins
Each Dawn I Die
Mrs. Ross
Calling Dr. Kildare
Mrs. Martha Kildare
Son of Frankenstein
Amelia
The Duke of West Point
Mrs. West
The Cowboy and the Lady
Ma Hawkins
Thanks for the Memory
Mrs. Platt
Young Dr. Kildare
Mrs. Martha Kildare
Three Loves Has Nancy
Mrs. Briggs
Cowboy from Brooklyn
Ma Hardy
Lord Jeff
Mrs. Briggs
Madame X
Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
Varsity Show
Mrs. Smith