James Dunn
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
James Dunn worked on the stage, in vaudeville and as an extra in silent movies before he was signed by Fox in 1931. His first movie with Fox was 1931's Sob Sister (1931). While at Fox, he appeared with Shirley Temple in her first three features: Baby Take a Bow (1934), Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) and Bright Eyes (1934). Dunn's screen character was usually the boy next door or the nice guy. In 1935 musicals at the new 20th Century-Fox were out and Dunn would move to the "B" list, from which he would never return. In The Payoff (1935) he plays the nice guy newspaper columnist whose wife ruins his career. By the late 1930s he was drinking heavily and become unemployable. He would appear in small roles in films during the early 1940s, but those parts were few. In 1945 he was able to make a comeback and win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), but his rejuvenated career would not continue. By 1951 he would again be unemployed and bankrupt. Television would later supply some work and he would be a regular on the series It's a Great Life (1954). Dunn was born 2 November 1901, New York City, New York, USA, and he died 1 September 1967, Santa Monica, California, USA (following abdominal surgery)
Known for
Credits
Bad Girl (1931)
as Eddie Collins
Society Girl (1932)
as Johnny Malone
Deliverance (1919)
as Life Saver
Sob Sister (1931)
as Garry Webster
Hello, Sister! (1933)
as Jimmy
Mercy Plane (1939)
as 'Speed' Leslie
The Oscar (1966)
as TV executive
The Last Stop (1956)
as Yigal
Government Girl (1943)
as Sergeant Joe Blake
Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
as Jimmy Dugan
Don’t Get Personal (1936)
as Bob McDonald
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
as Johnny Nolan
Leave It to the Irish (1944)
as Terry Moran
We Have Our Moments (1937)
as John Wade
That Brennan Girl (1946)
as Denny Reagan
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
as Telegrapher
The Caribbean Mystery (1945)
as Mr. Smith
Bright Eyes (1934)
as Loop Merritt
In the Nick of Time (1929)
Actor
Journey to the Day (1960)
as Melville Cooper
Baby Take a Bow (1934)
as Eddie Ellison
The Daring Young Man (1935)
as Don McLane
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975)
as Self (archive footage)
Change of Heart (1934)
as Mark McGowan
Handle with Care (1932)
as Bill Gordon
The Bramble Bush (1960)
as Stew Schaffer
The Song Plugger (1930)
as Man in Record Shop
The Girl in 419 (1933)
as Dr. Daniel French
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948)
as Mike
The Biggest Little Star of the 30's (1976)
as Self(archive footage)
Shadows Over Shanghai (1938)
as Johnny McGinty
Hollywood’s Children (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
Shadow Over Elveron (1968)
as Luke Travers
Killer McCoy (1947)
as Brian McCoy
The Ninth Day (1957)
Actor
Hold That Woman! (1940)
as Jimmy Parker
Arizona to Broadway (1933)
as Smiley Wells
Hold That Girl (1934)
as Barney Sullivan
Son of the Navy (1940)
as Chief Gunners Mate Mike Malone
The Ghost and the Guest (1943)
as Webster Frye
Take It or Leave It (1944)
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
Over the Hill (1931)
as Johnny Shelby as an Adult
George White's 1935 Scandals (1935)
as Eddie
A Wonderful Life (1950)
as Henry Wood
The Living Ghost (1942)
as Nick Trayne
The Payoff (1935)
as Joe McCoy
Have a Heart (1934)
as James 'Jimmie' Flaherty
The Golden Gloves Story (1950)
as Joe Riley
Jimmy and Sally (1933)
as Jimmy O'Connor
Dance Team (1932)
as Jimmy Mulligan
Hearts in Bondage (1936)
as Lt. Kenneth Reynolds
Mysterious Crossing (1936)
as Addison Francis Murphy
Pride of the Navy (1939)
as Speed Brennan
Mr. Broadway (1957)
Actor
Two-Fisted Gentleman (1936)
as Mickey
365 Nights in Hollywood (1934)
as James 'Jimmy' Dale
Venus Makes Trouble (1937)
as Buzz Martin
Welcome Home (1935)
as Richard Foster
Bad Boy (1935)
as Eddie Nolan
Living on Love (1937)
as Gary Martin
Take a Chance (1933)
as Duke Stanley
Sailor's Luck (1933)
as Jimmy Fenimore Harrigan
Come Closer, Folks (1936)
as Jim Keene
Hold Me Tight (1933)
as Chuck Evans