Emma Dunn
Known for
Emma Dunn has spent most of a working life as a British actress with a career measured in decades rather than seasons. The most visible line on the filmography is 'The Great Dictator' (Mrs. Jaeckel). 'Son of Frankenstein' is the other credit most often cited. The first credits arrived long before the title most people know. More of the credits fall under comedy than under anything else. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project.
Emma Dunn
94 Movies
Emma Dunn has spent most of a working life as a British actress with a career measured in decades rather than seasons. The most visible line on the filmography is 'The Great Dictator' (Mrs. Jaeckel). 'Son of Frankenstein' is the other credit most often cited. The first credits arrived long before the title most people know. More of the credits fall under comedy than under anything else. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project.
Movies
Plays Mrs. Jaeckel
The Great Dictator
1940
Plays Martha
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
1941
Plays Amelia
Son of Frankenstein
1939
Plays Mrs. Simpson
Dance, Girl, Dance
1940
Plays Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
Madame X
1937
Plays Mother
Waikiki Wedding
1937
Plays Margaret
Life with Father
1947
Plays Anna - Olga's Housekeeper
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937
Plays Mrs. Darrow
Letty Lynton
1932
Plays Mrs. Williams
Babes on Broadway
1941
Plays Mrs. Quimby
Seven Keys to Baldpate
1935
Plays Mrs. Shelley
The Talk of the Town
1942
Plays Miss Bennett
Manslaughter
1930
Plays Mrs. West
The Duke of West Point
1938
Plays Mrs. Briggs
Three Loves Has Nancy
1938
Plays Ma Hawkins
The Cowboy and the Lady
1938
Plays Mrs. Madison
The Bad Sister
1931
Plays Frau Miller
Broken Lullaby
1932
Plays Martha Kildare
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
1939
Plays Mrs. Ross
Each Dawn I Die
1939
Plays Mrs. Martha Kildare
Young Dr. Kildare
1938
Plays Mrs. Chilcote
The Wet Parade
1932
Plays Mother Fields
You Can't Fool Your Wife
1940
Plays Martha Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
1940
Plays Mrs. Martha Kildare
Calling Dr. Kildare
1939
Plays Mrs. Briggs
Lord Jeff
1938
Plays Mrs. Vesey
The Woman in White
1948
Plays Mrs. Martha Kildare
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
1940
Plays Maggie
The Hoodlum Saint
1946
Plays Mrs. Hamilton
When You're in Love
1937
Plays 'Ma' McCormick
The Penalty
1941
Plays 'Mom' Madvig
The Glass Key
1935
Plays Mrs. Borden
Mourning Becomes Electra
1947
Plays Sister Theresa
Ladies in Retirement
1941
Plays Mrs. Martha Kildare
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day
1941
Plays 'Moms' McClenahan
It's Tough to Be Famous
1932
Plays Mrs. Phelan
Ladies Crave Excitement
1935
Plays Mrs. Monahan
Dr. Monica
1934
Plays Doña Mercedes
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1944
Plays Margaret Campbell
The Keeper of the Bees
1935
Plays Emma Clark
Hell's House
1932
Plays Mrs. Kane
Elmer, the Great
1933
Plays Nina Palmero
The Guilty Generation
1931
Plays Mrs. Platt
Thanks for the Memory
1938
Plays Mrs. Roberts
Blessed Event
1932
Plays Señora Doña Marguerita Granadas-Ibarra
The Texan
1930
Plays Margaret Blake
This Modern Age
1931
Plays Orphanage Matron
Little Big Shot
1935
Plays Mirandy Baines
Scattergood Baines
1941
Plays Nora O'Farrell
Side Street
1929
Latest Trailers
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The Woman in White
Full Filmography
The Woman in White
Mrs. Vesey
1948
Film
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mrs. Borden
1947
Film
Life with Father
Margaret
1947
Film
The Hoodlum Saint
Maggie
1946
Film
My Buddy
Mary Ballinger
1944
Film
It Happened Tomorrow
Mrs. Keaver (uncredited)
1944
Film
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Doña Mercedes
1944
Film
Minesweeper
Mom Smith
1943
Film
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Ma Flanagan
1942
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Emma Dunn still alive?
Emma Dunn passed away on December 14, 1966 at age 92.
What are the most famous roles of Emma Dunn?
Emma Dunn is best known for roles in The Great Dictator, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Son of Frankenstein.
How many movies has Emma Dunn been in?
Over a 52-year career (since 1914), Emma Dunn has appeared in 94 movies and 0 TV shows.
What was Emma Dunn's first movie?
The career of Emma Dunn began with Mother (1914).
What is Emma Dunn's most recent movie or series?
Emma Dunn's most recent release is The Woman in White, which premiered on May 7, 1948.
Emma Dunn
1874-02-24 · Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
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.