Emma Dunn

Who was Emma Dunn?

Emma Dunn was an English-born actress and writer. She appeared in 108 films between 1914 and 1948. She 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 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, The Easiest Way and The Governor's Lady. In The Easiest Way, Dunn portrayed Annie, who was black, in blackface. In 1913 Dunn appeared in Vaudeville. Dunn wrote two books regarding voice quality and speech: Thought Quality in the Voice and You Can Do It.