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Biography
Irene Marie Dunne was born on December 20, 1898 in Louisville,
Kentucky. She was the daughter of Joseph Dunne, who inspected
steamships, and Adelaide Henry, a musician who prompted Irene in
the arts. Her first production was in Louisville when she appeared
in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at the age of five. Her "debut" would
set the tone for a fabulous career. Following the tragic death of
her father, when she was 12, she moved with her remaining family to
the picturesque and historic town of Madison, Indiana to live with
her maternal grandparents at 917 West Second Street. During the
next few years, Irene studied voice and took piano lessons in town.
She was able to earn money singing in the Christ Episcopal Church
choir on Sundays. After graduating from Madison High School in
1916, she studied until 1917 in a music conservatory in
Indianapolis. After that she accepted a teaching post as a music
and art instructor in East Chicago, Indiana, just a stone's throw
from Chicago, Illinois. She never made it to the school. While on
her way to East Chicago, she saw a newspaper ad in the Indianapolis
Star and News for an annual scholarship contest run by the Chicago
Music College. Irene won the contest, which enabled her to study
there for a year. After that she headed for New York City because
it was still the entertainment capital of the world. Her first goal
in New York was to add her name to the list of luminaries of the
Metropolitan Opera Company. Her audition did her little good as she
was rejected for being too young and inexperienced. She did win the
leading role in a road theater company which was in turn followed
by numerous plays. During this whole time she studied at the
Chicago Music College from which she graduated with high honors in
1926. In 1928, Irene met and married a promising young dentist from
New York named Francis Dennis Griffin. She would remain with Dr.
Griffin until his death in 1965, almost unheard of with Hollywood's
elite. Irene came to the notice of Hollywood when she performed in
a play on the East Coast. By 1930 she was under contract to RKO.
The first motion picture she appeared in was called LEATHERNECKING
the same year. Her film debut went almost unnoticed. In 1931, Irene
appeared in CIMMARRON for which she was to receive the first of
five Academy Award nominations. Films such as NO OTHER WOMAN (1933)
and ANN VICKERS the same year followed. Later, in 1937, she was
teamed up with popular Cary Grant, in THE AWFUL TRUTH. This helped
her garner a second Academy Award nomination. She starred with
Grant later in MY FAVORITE WIFE in 1940 and PENNY SERANADE in 1941.
They WERE Hollywood's team. But it was the tear-jerker I REMEMBER
MAMA in 1948 that helped her be remembered forever as the loving,
self-sacrificing Norweigian mother. She got another nomination for
that but again lost. This was the picture in which she should have
won the Oscar. She began to wean herself away from films toward the
many charities and public works she championed. Her last major
movie was as Polly Baxter in 1952's IT GROWS ON TREES. After that
she only appeared as a guest on television. Irene knew when to quit
when she was ahead of the game. This would help keep her legacy
intact. In 1957, she was appointed as a special US delegate to the
United Nations during the 12th General Assembly by President Dwight
Eisenhower, such was her widespread appeal. The remainder of her
life would be spent on civic causes. She even donated $10,000 to
the restoration of the town fountain in her girlhood home of
Madison, Indiana in 1976 even though she had not been there since
1938 when she came home for a visit. At the age of 91, on September
4, 1990, she died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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Movie
Credits
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it at Amazon.com
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Has Anybody Here Seen Canada? A History of Canadian Movies 1939-1953 (1979)
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[ Loretta Young ]
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It Grows on Trees (1952)
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Never a Dull Moment (1950)
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[ Natalie Wood ]
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Mudlark, The (1950)
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I Remember Mama (1948)
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Life with Father (1947)
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[ Elizabeth Taylor ]
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Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
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Over 21 (1945)
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White Cliffs of Dover, The (1944)
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[ Elizabeth Taylor ]
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Together Again (1944)
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[ Shelley Winters ]
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Guy Named Joe, A (1943)
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[ Esther Williams ]
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Show Business at War (1943)
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[ Rita Hayworth ] [ Hedy Lamarr ] [ Loretta Young ] [ Marlene Dietrich ] [ Carole Lombard ] [ Dorothy Lamour ] [ Myrna Loy ]
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Lady in a Jam (1942)
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Penny Serenade (1941)
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Unfinished Business (1941)
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[ Isabelle Mejias ] [ Viveca Lindfors ]
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My Favorite Wife (1940)
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Invitation to Happiness (1939)
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[ Marion Martin ]
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When Tomorrow Comes (1939)
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Love Affair (1939)
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[ Carey Lowell ] [ Rosalind Allen ] [ Brenda Vaccaro ] [ Chloe Webb ] [ Kate Capshaw ] [ Taylor Dayne ] [ Rosalind Chao ] [ Tazzie ]
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Joy of Living (1938)
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[ Lucille Ball ]
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Awful Truth, The (1937)
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High, Wide, and Handsome (1937)
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[ Dorothy Lamour ]
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Show Boat (1936)
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Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
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Roberta (1935)
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[ Lucille Ball ]
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Magnificent Obsession (1935)
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Stingaree (1934)
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Age of Innocence, The (1934)
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[ Joanne Woodward ] [ Claire Bloom ] [ Geraldine Chaplin ] [ Michelle Pfeiffer ] [ Winona Ryder ]
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Sweet Adeline (1934)
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This Man Is Mine (1934)
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No Other Woman (1933)
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Ann Vickers (1933)
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If I Were Free (1933)
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Silver Cord, The (1933)
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Secret of Madame Blanche, The (1933)
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Back Street (1932)
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Thirteen Women (1932)
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[ Myrna Loy ]
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Symphony of Six Million (1932)
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Great Lover, The (1931)
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Slippery Pearls, The (1931)
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[ Fay Wray ] [ Loretta Young ] [ Barbara Stanwyck ] [ Joan Crawford ]
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Consolation Marriage (1931)
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[ Myrna Loy ]
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Bachelor Apartment (1931)
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Cimarron (1931)
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[ Anne Baxter ]
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Leathernecking (1930)
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Irene Dunne