James Dunn(1901-1967)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
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 became unemployable. He would appear in
small roles in films during the early 1940s, but those parts were few
and far between. In 1945 he was able to make a comeback and won 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).
