ID
Photo of Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne

Actor
Died September 4, 1990 (91 years)
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."
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • Penny Serenade
  • Love Affair
  • Life with Father
Known For
  • The Awful Truth
  • My Favorite Wife
  • Love Affair
  • I Remember Mama
  • Penny Serenade
  • Cimarron
  • Show Boat
  • Roberta
  • Theodora Goes Wild
  • Life with Father
  • Anna and the King of Siam
  • Thirteen Women
  • The White Cliffs of Dover
  • A Guy Named Joe
  • Magnificent Obsession
  • Back Street
  • Joy of Living
  • When Tomorrow Comes
  • The Silver Cord
  • The Age of Innocence
  • Stingaree
  • Over 21

Filmography

2007
Classified X · as Magnolia Hawks
1994
The Our Gang Story · as Terry
1982
1963
Hollywood: The Great Stars · as Lucy Warriner
1962
Saints and Sinners (TV Series) · as Anita Farrell
1961
Frontier Circus (TV Series) · as Dr. Sam Applewhite
1960
Insight (TV Series) · as Gertrude Le Forte
1959
The June Allyson Show (TV Series) · as Dr. Gina Kerstas
1953
General Electric Theater (TV Series) · as Margaret Henderson
1952
Ford Theatre: All Star Theatre (TV Series) · as Janet Wilson
1952
It Grows on Trees · as Polly Baxter
1950
The Mudlark · as Queen Victoria
1950
Never a Dull Moment · as Kay Kingsley
1948
I Remember Mama · as Mama
1947
Life with Father · as Vinnie Day
1946
Anna and the King of Siam · as Anna Owens
1945
Over 21 · as Paula 'polly' Wharton
1944
Together Again · as Anne Crandall
1944
The White Cliffs of Dover · as Susan Dunn
1943
A Guy Named Joe · as Dorinda Durston
1942
Lady in a Jam · as Jane Palmer
1941
Unfinished Business · as Nancy Andrews
1941
Penny Serenade · as Julie Gardiner Adams
1940
My Favorite Wife · as Ellen Wagstaff Arden
1939
1939
Invitation to Happiness · as Eleanor Wayne
1939
Land of Liberty · as Sabra Cravat
1939
Love Affair · as Terry Mckay
1938
Joy of Living · as Margaret 'maggie' Garret
1937
The Awful Truth · as Lucy Warriner
1937
High, Wide and Handsome · as Sally Watterson
1936
Theodora Goes Wild · as Theodora Lynn
1936
Show Boat · as Magnolia Hawkes
1935
Magnificent Obsession · as Helen Hudson
1935
Roberta · as Stephanie
1934
Sweet Adeline · as Adeline 'addie' Schmidt
1934
The Age of Innocence · as Countess Ellen Olenska
1934
Stingaree · as Hilda Bouverie
1934
This Man Is Mine · as Tony Dunlap
1933
If I Were Free · as Sarah Cazenove
1933
Ann Vickers · as Ann Vickers
1933
The Silver Cord · as Christina Phelps
1933
1933
No Other Woman · as Anna Stanley
1932
Back Street · as Ray Schmidt
1932
Thirteen Women · as Laura Stanhope
1932
1931
Consolation Marriage · as Mary Brown Porter
1931
The Great Lover · as Diana
1931
Bachelor Apartment · as Helene Andrews
1931
Cimarron · as Sabra Cravat

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