Emma Dunn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dunn in 1911 | |
| Born | 26 February 1875 Birkenhead, Cheshire, England |
| Died | 14 December 1966 (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1902–1948 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Emma Dunn (26 February 1875 – 14 December 1966) was an English actress. After starting her acting career on stage in London, she became known for her works in numerous films and Broadway productions.
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.[1]
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, and then she made her sound 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)[2] and You Can Do It (1947).[3]
Emma Dunn was born 26 February 1875,[4] in Birkenhead, England, although she sometimes gave her year of birth as 1883.[5][6]
Dunn married Harry Beresford,[7][8] an actor who was then known professionally as Harry J. Morgan, in Chicago on 4 October 1897.[9] 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[5] (John W. S. Sullivan[10]), an actor, playwright[6] and theatrical manager.[11] They subsequently adopted a second daughter, Helen.[12] The couple divorced sometime between 1923[5] and Stokes' death in 1931.[13]
After suffering a heart attack some months before, Dunn died 14 December 1966 in Los Angeles, California, aged 91.[14][15]
| Date | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 November – 6 December 1902 | The Wrong Mr. Wright | Tillie Bird | National tour beginning at Morosco's Burbank Theatre, Los Angeles[16][17] |
| 8 January – January 1906 | The Redemption of David Corson | Majestic Theatre, New York City[18] | |
| 28 October 1906 – January 1907 | Peer Gynt | Ase | Grand Opera House, Chicago[19][20] |
| 25 February – 23 March 1907 | Peer Gynt | Ase | New Amsterdam Theatre, New York City[21][22] |
| 3 December 1907 – October 1908 | The Warrens of Virginia | Mrs. Warren | Belasco Theatre, Stuyvesant Theatre, New York City[23] |
| 19 January – June 1909 | The Easiest Way | Annie | Stuyvesant Theatre, New York City[24] |
| 7 September – 31 December 1910 | Mother | Mrs. Katherine Wetherill | Hackett Theatre, Criterion Theatre, New York City[25][26] |
| 10 September 1912 – January 1913 | The Governor's Lady | Mary Slade | Theatre Republic, New York City[27] |
| 7 January – July 1915 | Sinners | Mrs. Horton | Playhouse Theatre, New York City[28][29] |
| 30 October 1916 – March 1917 | Old Lady 31 | Angie | 38th Street Theatre, New York City[30][31] |
| 16 August – 10 September 1921 | Sonny | Mrs. Crosby | Cort Theatre, New York City[32] |
| 24 November 1924 – January 1925 | Dawn | Mary Slayton | Sam H. Harris Theatre, New York City[33] |
| 24 November 1925 – 19?? | Rip Van Winkle | Gretchen | Boston Repertory Theatre, Boston[34] |
| January 1927 | Junk | Old Sal | Garrick Theatre, New York City[35] |
