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Irene Dunne

Popularity

0.6

  • 1898 - 1990

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn, December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948). In 1985, Dunne was given Kennedy Center Honors for her services to the arts. Dunne was discovered by Hollywood while starring with the road company of Show Boat in 1929. She signed a contract with RKO and appeared in her first movie, Leathernecking (1930), a film version of the musical Present Arms. Already in her thirties when she made her first film, she would be in competition with younger actresses for roles, and found it advantageous to evade questions that would reveal her age. Her publicists encouraged the belief that she was born in 1901 or 1904, and the former is the date engraved on her tombstone. During the 1930s and 1940s, Dunne blossomed into a popular screen heroine in movies such as the original Back Street (1932) and the original Magnificent Obsession (1935) and re-created her role as Magnolia in Show Boat (1936), directed by James Whale. Love Affair (1939) is the first of three films she made opposite Charles Boyer. She starred, and sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film version of the musical Roberta (1935). Dunne was apprehensive about attempting her first comedy role, as the title character in Theodora Goes Wild (1936), but discovered that she enjoyed it. She turned out to possess an aptitude for comedy, with a flair for combining the elegant and the madcap, a quality she displayed in such films as The Awful Truth (1937) and My Favorite Wife (1940), both co-starring Cary Grant. Other roles include Julie Gardiner Adams in Penny Serenade (1941), again with Grant, Anna and the King of Siam (1946) as Anna Leonowens, Lavinia Day in Life with Father (1947), and Marta Hanson in I Remember Mama (1948). In The Mudlark (1950), she was nearly unrecognizable under heavy makeup as Queen Victoria. The comedy It Grows on Trees (1952) became Dunne's last screen performance, although she remained on the lookout for suitable film scripts for years afterwards. The following year, she was the opening act on the 1953 March of Dimes showcase in New York City. While in town, she made an appearance as the mystery guest on What's My Line? She also made television performances on Ford Theatre, General Electric Theater, and the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, continuing to act until 1962. In 1952–53, Dunne played newspaper editor Susan Armstrong in the radio program Bright Star. The syndicated 30-minute comedy-drama also starred Fred MacMurray. Dunne commented in an interview that she had lacked the "terrifying ambition" of some other actresses and said, "I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is."

Birthday: 1898-12-20

Born At: Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Casted In:

The Awful Truth
14675
Show Boat
31548
Roberta
31798
Together Again
32130
My Favorite Wife
41463
Life with Father
41465
Cimarron
42861
A Guy Named Joe
43306
I Remember Mama
43442
Anna and the King of Siam
43471
Ann Vickers
43602
Sweet Adeline
43694
Love Affair
43739
Penny Serenade
43795
Joy of Living
46616
Magnificent Obsession
47920
Theodora Goes Wild
52429
High, Wide and Handsome
52432
Invitation to Happiness
52437
The White Cliffs of Dover
52440
The Stolen Jools
53572
Unfinished Business
86143
Thirteen Women
91181
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
94857
Bachelor Apartment
96482
Symphony of Six Million
96503
The Secret of Madame Blanche
96709
Over 21
101256
Back Street
109197
The Age of Innocence
110540
The Silver Cord
120970
The Mudlark
126596
Consolation Marriage
136109
If I Were Free
150606
Lady in a Jam
151106
When Tomorrow Comes
165917
This Man Is Mine
178939
No Other Woman
178942
The Great Lover
180254
Stingaree
184936
Show-Business at War
186702
Never a Dull Moment
196862
It Grows on Trees
258737
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
266814
Hollywood Without Make-Up
294409
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
573571
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