Josephine Dunn


Mary Josephine Dunn was an American stage and film actress of the 1920s and 1930s.

Early years

Dunn was born in New York City and educated at the Holy Cross convent.

Career

Dunn's first venture into entertainment came at age 14 when she became a member of the chorus at the Winter Garden Theatre. Rather than return to school, she continued in her career, appearing in almost 20 productions, including the Ziegfeld Follies. Her Broadway credits include Between Two Worlds, Take a Chance, Pickwick, and Dear Sir.
Dunn began her film career with a role in Fascinating Youth after she completed the then-new Paramount Pictures School. She went on to have the lead roles in Love's Greatest Mistake and Fireman, Save My Child.
After nine months of inactivity in film, Dunn signed a long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
She starred in 23 silent films, and in 1929 she was one of 13 girls named as "WAMPAS Baby Stars", which that year included actress Jean Arthur. In 1930 she made a successful transition, unlike many silent stars, to sound films. In 1930 she starred in Safety in Numbers alongside Carole Lombard and Kathryn Crawford. She starred in sixteen films through 1932.

Personal life

Dunn became associated with what would become known as the "Algonquin Round Table", which included actress Tallulah Bankhead.
In 1925, Dunn married William P. Cameron in Elkton, Maryland. He was a contracting engineer. They were divorced in 1928. She married Clyde Greathouse, an official of an oil company, in Los Angeles on January 10, 1931, and they were divorced on October 26, 1931. On January 6, 1933, in Great Neck, New York, she married Eugene J. Lewis, whom she divorced in 1935 to marry Carroll Case, whose father Frank Case owned the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, which housed the now famous "Algonquin Round Table". She retired from acting in 1938, and remained with Case for the remainder of his life, until he died in 1978.

Death

Dunn died of cancer on February 3, 1983, in Thousand Oaks, California, aged 76.

Partial filmography