Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne DHS (born Irene Marie Dunn;[Note 1] December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other genres.
Irene Dunne
September 4, 1990 (aged 91)
- The First Lady of Hollywood
- Irene Dunne Griffin
Actress
1920–1987
- Dame of the Holy Sepulchre
- Delegate to the United Nations
- President of Santa Monica's St. John's Hospital Guild
- Chairman of the Field Army American Cancer Society
- Co-Chairman of the American Heart Association
- Co-Chairman of the American Red Cross
- Technicolor
(1965) - California Arts Commission
(1967–1970)
1
- Popular
- Show tune
- Vocals
After her father died when she was 14, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana. She was determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the musical Leathernecking (1930). She later starred in the successful musical Show Boat (1936). Overall, she starred in 42 movies and was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress—for her performances in the western drama Cimarron (1931), the screwball comedies Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and The Awful Truth (1937), the romance Love Affair (1939), and the drama I Remember Mama (1948). Dunne is considered one of the finest actresses never to have won an Academy Award. Some critics feel that her performances have been underappreciated and largely forgotten, often overshadowed by later remakes and better-known co-stars.
After the success of The Awful Truth, she was paired with Cary Grant, her co-star in that movie, two further times; in another screwball comedy, My Favorite Wife (1940), and in the melodrama Penny Serenade (1941). She has been praised by many during her career, and after her death, as one of the best comedic actresses in the screwball genre. The popularity of Love Affair also led to two additional movies with her co-star of that film, Charles Boyer; those were When Tomorrow Comes (1939) and Together Again (1944). Her last film role was in 1952 but she starred in and hosted numerous television anthology episodes until 1962 after having done numerous radio performances from the late 1930s until the early 1950s. She was nicknamed "The First Lady of Hollywood" for her regal manner despite being proud of her Irish-American, country-girl roots.
Dunne devoted her retirement to philanthropy and was chosen by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a delegate for the United States to the United Nations, in which she advocated world peace and highlighted refugee-relief programs. She also used the time to be with her family—her husband, dentist Dr. Francis Griffin, and their daughter Mary Frances, whom they adopted in 1938. She received numerous awards for her philanthropy, including honorary doctorates, a Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, and a papal knighthood—Dame of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1985, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor for her services to the arts.
Early life[edit]
Irene Marie Dunn was born on December 20, 1898,[1][2] at 507 East Gray Street in Louisville, Kentucky,[9] to Joseph John Dunn, an Irish-American steamboat engineer/inspector for the United States government,[10] and Adelaide Antoinette Dunn (née Henry), a concert pianist/music teacher of German descent from Newport, Kentucky.[11] She was their second child and second daughter,[12] and had a younger brother named Charles;[13][14] Dunne's elder sister died soon after her birth.[12] The family alternated between living in Kentucky and St. Louis,[12] due to her father's job offers, but he died in April 1913[15][16] from a kidney infection[17] when she was fourteen.[Note 2] She saved all of his letters and both remembered and lived by what he told her the night before he died: "Happiness is never an accident. It is the prize we get when we choose wisely from life's great stores."[Note 3][20]
Following her father's death, Dunne's family moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana,[22] living on W. Second St.,[23] in the same neighborhood as Dunne's grandparents.[24] Dunne's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl — according to Dunne, "Music was as natural as breathing in our house,"[20] — but unfortunately for her, music lessons frequently prevented her from playing with the neighborhood kids.[12] Her first school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream began her interest in drama,[25] so she took singing lessons as well, and sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916.[26] Wanting to become a music teacher,[27] she studied at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music,[28][23] earning a diploma in 1918. Later, she auditioned for the Chicago Musical College when she visited friends during a journey to Gary, Indiana, and won a college scholarship, officially graduating in 1926.[29] Hoping to become a soprano opera singer, she moved to New York after finishing her second year in 1920, but failed two auditions with the Metropolitan Opera Company due to her inexperience and her "slight" voice.[30][31]
Notable remakes of Dunne's films[257]
Lovely to Look At (1952)
Let's Do It Again (1953)
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Interlude (1957)
Move Over, Darling (1963)
Always (1989)
The King and I (1956)
Discography[edit]
Singles[edit]
"Lovely to Look At" was the only song Dunne performed in a non-musical movie that entered the Billboard charts, peaking at number 20 in early June 1935.[303][304]