Emma Dunn

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Emma Dunn (1920)

Emma Dunn (born February 26, 1874 in Cheshire , England , United Kingdom , † December 14, 1966 in Los Angeles , California , United States ) was an English-born American actress . Between 1914 and 1948 she took part in over 100 film productions.

life and work

Emma Dunn's acting career began in British theater, including in London. Only a few years later she moved to the United States, where she was seen in many plays on Broadway . She played her first Broadway role in 1906 in the first American production of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt as the mother of Peer. Peer Gynt himself was portrayed by Richard Mansfield , who was actually around 20 years older than Dunn. That was typical of Dunn, who had already played matronly roles on stage as a teenager in London. Dunn was particularly popular with theater director David Belasco , who hired her for three of his productions - The Warrens of Virginia (1907), The Easiest Way (1909) and The Governors Lady (1912).

In 1914 Dunn made her film debut in the silent film Mother . The material had already been a great success on stage four years earlier. It was directed for the first time by Maurice Tourneur . Dunn's second film, Old Lady 31 (1920), was also based on a play of the same name from 1916. Dunn finally shot one last silent film in 1924 with Pied Piper Malone . But it was not until the beginning of the talkie in the late 1920s that she was regularly seen in the film business. In 1931 alone she played supporting roles in ten productions , where she was mainly cast in good-hearted roles as a mother or housekeeper. She had one of her best-known roles as the mother of Lew Ayres ' title character in the popular Dr. Kildare . In Charlie Chaplin's classic film The Great Dictator , Dunn played the supporting role of the Jewish woman Jaeckel. She stayed in the film industry until 1948.

From 1887 until their divorce in 1909, Dunn was married to fellow actor Harry Beresford , and they had a daughter. The actress married John W. Stokes for the second time in 1909. Emma Dunn died in Los Angeles in December 1966 at the age of 92 .

Filmography (selection)

Emma Dunn in American Magazine 1913

Web links

Commons : Emma Dunn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emma Dunn at Allmovie
personal data
SURNAME Dunn, Emma
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Cheshire , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1966
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States