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