One of the great actresses nominated for the Academy Award multiple times (five) without a win and one of the best screwball comediennes of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Irene Dunne is considered one of the foremost performers of that era, known for her versatility, style and sophistication.
Dunne was born December 20, 1898, in Louisville, Kentucky. The daughter of a music teacher, she was raised around music and had a natural talent for it. She won a scholarship to the Chicago Musical College, and hoped to become an opera singer, but did not pass her audition with the Metropolitan Opera Company. However, she found success in musical theater, eventually appearing in several Broadway productions. While playing the lead in a road company of “Show Boat,” Dunne was discovered by Hollywood and was soon on her way to a varied and prosperous acting career.
Dunne displayed her impressive acting abilities almost immediately, receiving an Academy Award nomination for one of her first films, “Cimarron,” in 1930, quickly becoming an A-lister known for her flair for drama as well as her keen fashion sense. She found a new level of fame when, despite her initial distaste for the genre, she was cast in the comedy “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936), for which she was nominated for a second Academy Award, establishing herself as one of the legends of the screwball genre, with three-time costar Cary Grant telling her that she had perfect timing.
It is a bit puzzling as to why Dunne never won the coveted Oscar, as she was popular among her peers, known to be a lovely and gracious woman, as well as a talented performer. She displayed her versatility in a wide range of genres, with her five nominations encompassing four different genres – an epic western, two comedies, a drama and a romance. With her talent and list of classic films, it’s also a wonder that Dunne isn’t remembered along with her peers from that era. However, many of her films were remade in later years and those became the better known versions – notably “Anna and the King of Siam” was remade as “The King and I” and “Love Affair” was remade as “An Affair to Remember,” with both remakes starring Deborah Kerr, another actress who lost out on Oscar night several times. Or, perhaps it’s because her last film was over half a century ago 1952 with the lackluster “It Grows on Trees,” and she opted to quit while she was on top. Other than a few television appearances, she retired from acting.
Unlike others from her era, Dunne also stayed away from drama and scandal in her real life. She was married to Dr. Francis Griffin, a dentist, from 1927 until his death in 1965, and they adopted a daughter in 1936. In her later years, she remained active, devoting time to philanthropic causes, christening the Mark Twain River Boat at Disneyland in 1955 at the request of Walt Disney and becoming the first woman elected to Technicolor’s board of directors in 1965. In 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower named her an alternate delegate to the U.N. General Assembly. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1985 and died in 1990 at the age of 91.
Dunne was dubbed “The First Lady of Hollywood” because of her poise, charm and warmth, giving her a regal bearing that manifested itself on film. She once said, “I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is.” And we are so lucky for the times that she drifted in, because she left us some of the most wonderful films from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Tour our photo gallery above ranking her 12 greatest film performances from worst to best. Our list includes “I Remember Mama,” “Love Affair,” “The Awful Truth” and more.
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12. Cimarron (1931)
Image Credit: Rko/Kobal/Shutterstock This epic western spans the years from 1889 to 1929, when the government opened land for settlers to claim. Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is a restless adventurer, who seeks to find new settlements once he has established himself in one spot. His wife Sabra (Dunne) longs for a calmer life, and he often leaves her and their children for adventure. Sabra finds herself fighting causes, running a newspaper and eventually becoming involved in politics during his absences. Although it’s very dated now, it was extremely popular during its initial run, becoming the first western to win Best Picture (this would not happen again until “Dances with Wolves” in 1990), and the first film to be nominated for the Big Five at the Academy Awards. This was one of Dunne’s first films, and she received her first of five Best Actress nominations for her role as the strong Sabra involved in a bittersweet love story with a man who can’t settle down.
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11. Back Street (1932)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Universal Pictures In the early 1900s, independent Ray Schmidt (Dunne) meets Walter Saxel (John Boles) and they fall in love. However, he is already engaged, and although he’s willing to break that, unforeseen circumstances keep them apart. They meet again years later after he has become a successful businessman, husband and father, and they renew their love affair as they still have feelings for one another. Ray becomes his “back street” mistress and the target of gossip and scorn from Walter’s son. Filmmaking styles were very different during this time, often filmed like a play on film. However, this production used revolutionary camera techniques, and the actors’ performances were very restrained, offering a very realistic feel. This understated performance is one of Dunne’s best.
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10. Roberta (1935)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Although remembered as a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers vehicle, Dunne received top billing in this musical, and she is delightful as a fashion designer in a Parisian dress shop that an American football player (Randolph Scott) inherits from his aunt. Meanwhile, his buddy Huck (Fred Astaire), a dancer who lost his gig, runs into his old sweetheart Lizzie (Rogers), who’s posing as snobby “Countess Scharwenka”. The two couples inevitably fall in love despite having to overcome several obstacles and misunderstandings. With her musical background and the popularity of the genre at the time, it’s surprising that Dunne wasn’t in more musicals, and she displays her impressive operatic voice in several numbers, including “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “Lovely to Look At.”
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9. Show Boat (1936)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Although the lavish 1951 MGM technicolor musical is the more well-remembered version, this black and white adaptation of the stage musical is considered by many to be the superior version. Magnolia (Dunne) is the young daughter of a family which travels the Mississippi river putting on shows. The production follows her life as she falls in love with and marries a charming gambler, moving to Chicago with him and having a child. He eventually leaves and she is left to raise her daughter alone. Dunne was discovered by Hollywood while playing Magnolia in a road company version of the musical, and she is instrumental in making it one of the finest cinematic versions.
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8. Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock Anna (Dunne) is a young English widow who accepts a job teaching the children of the king of Siam (Rex Harrison, in his first American film). Cultures clash, and to the dismay of his many wives, Anna often challenges the king, which he surprisingly respects. She eventually becomes his friend and confidante even though she has difficulty accepting the ways of the country. The lavish musical version “The King and I” in 1956 is the better-remembered version of this story very loosely based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. However, this black and white dramatized version is just as magnificent, winning Academy Awards for its cinematography and art direction. The chemistry between Dunne and Harrison is wonderful, and Dunne’s good breeding and practical nature makes her a perfect Anna.
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7. Life with Father (1947)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Based on a true story, this delightful comedy pairs Dunne with the great William Powell. In 1880s New York, stockbroker Clarence Day wants to be master of his domain, but it’s his wife Vinnie (Dunne) who really runs the household that also includes four rambunctious boys (all redheads, in glorious Technicolor). While the boys find themselves in all sorts of mishaps, Vinnie is devastated when she finds out that Clarence has never been baptized, and is in no way concerned with rectifying the situation. Powell was so often successfully paired with Myrna Loy, it’s sometimes a little difficult to accept him with someone else, but Dunne is the perfect match for him, and this is a wonderfully nostalgic film.
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6. Penny Serenade (1941)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures The film opens as Julie (Dunne) is contemplating a divorce, and reminisces about her life with husband Roger (Cary Grant), from the time they meet by chance over a record skipping, through dating, to marriage, to moving and job changes, to children. It is a wonderful melodrama, with comedy and a bittersweetness that could be cheesy in less capable hands. But Dunne and Grant are at their finest in the third and last of their pairings. Much of the story is told through their expressions and body language as opposed to dialogue, and Dunne and Grant are perfectly in synch. Surprising, Grant only received two Academy Awards during his career, and the first was for this film.
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5. My Favorite Wife (1940)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock In this screwball comedy, Ellen (Dunne) has been missing for seven years and is declared legally dead. On the day her husband Nick (Cary Grant) remarries, she is rescued from an island and chaos ensues when Nick tries to break the news to his new wife, and when he finds out that Ellen was not alone on the island. The success of the Dunne/Grant teaming in “The Awful Truth” a few years before led to this production, and this one was just as successful. Although he’s better remembered for his pairings with Katharine Hepburn, Dunne’s sophisticated, elegant style was perhaps an even greater match for the great Cary Grant.
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4. Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock Prim and proper Theodora Lynn (Dunne) is seemingly leading a simple life in a small town, but is actually the writer of a steamy bestselling book that has the straight-laced ladies of the town in a tizzy. A chance meeting with Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas) threatens to unravel her secret, but as they fall in love, she discovers he has secrets too, and works to free him as he freed her. Dunne resisted this role as she had a distaste for the comedy genre – even leaving the country to get away from the script. However, she found she had a natural talent for comedy and became one of the best actresses in that genre. “Theodora Goes Wild” was wildly successful, garnering Dunne her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and leading to an extremely successful run of comedies.
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3. The Awful Truth (1937)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock In this screwball comedy, wealthy married couple Lucy (Dunne) and Jerry (Cary Grant) Warriner begin divorce proceedings, each wrongly suspecting the other of infidelity. However, they can’t seem to stay out of each other’s new romances. Very unusual for its time, the film is almost completely improvised by director Leo McCarey and his actors, which was initially difficult for the cast, but eventually led to the classic it has become. It was a huge hit at the time, and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Dunne, Best Picture and a win for McCarey for Best Director. This was the film that established Grant as a top-tier leading man and an impressive improviser, and many credit Dunne with being his best leading lady. “The Awful Truth” is considered one of the best romantic comedies ever made.
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2. Love Affair (1939)
Image Credit: Fred Hendrickson/Rko/Kobal/Shutterstock American singer Terry (Dunne) meets French painter Michael (Charles Boyer) on an ocean liner, and are attracted to one another; however, both are engaged to other people. When the voyage is over, they realize their attraction is stronger than just a flirtation and decide to meet again in six months at the top of the Empire State Building. At the appointed rendezvous, Terry is struck by a car and paralyzed. She refuses to notify Michael because she doesn’t want him to feel obligated to take care of her. Sound familiar? It was indeed remade in 1957 as “An Affair to Remember,” which was featured in the 1993 film “Sleepless in Seattle.” That was a version I loved so dearly I hesitated to view this one thinking it couldn’t possibly measure up – boy, was I wrong! Dunne is excellent as the saucy, independent Terry, and she and Boyer have fantastic chemistry. This film has gotten a bit lost, between the more well-known version, and the fact that it was released in the year 1939 – a year of a lot of classic films. It is very telling that Dunne scored a Best Actress nomination in this stellar year, one of six nominations that also included Best Picture. This was is a must see for any fan of classic film.
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1. I Remember Mama (1948)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Dunne received her fifth and final Oscar nomination for this film, and it is generally agreed upon that this is the one that should have won it for her. Katrin Hanson (Barbara Bel Geddes) has just finished her autobiographical novel, and recounts her life growing up in San Fransisco with her Norwegian immigrant family. The film takes us through the family’s financial struggles, detailing the family’s weekly meetings to prepare the budget, with each family member making sacrifices, and Mama (Dunne) hopefully declaring, “it is good.” Dunne dedicated herself to the role, taking voice lesson to perfect her Norwegian accent. The actress known for her fashion sense and elegance opted to forego makeup and to add padding to make herself appear heavier. Dunne gives a beautiful performance as the mother, wife and sister who holds her family together and sacrifices to make their lives a little better.
