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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
November 2, 1901
Died
September 3, 1967
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- James Howard Dunn
- Jimmy Dunn
James Dunn
0.4 Popularity
Biography
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
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood’s Children
1982
🎬
0.0
Self(archive footage)
The Biggest Little Star of the 30's
1976
6.1
Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
6.5
Luke Travers
Shadow Over Elveron
1968
4.8
TV executive
The Oscar
1966
6.6
Branded
1965
🎬
5.7
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
0.0
Indian Agent McLean
The Great Adventure
1963
7.2
Lou Bragan
The Fugitive
1963
🎬
7.0
P.J. Cunningham
Vacation Playhouse
1963
Credits
Hollywood’s Children
as Self (archive footage)
1982
0.0
🎬
The Biggest Little Star of the 30's
as Self(archive footage)
1976
0.0
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
1975
6.1
Shadow Over Elveron
as Luke Travers
1968
6.5
The Oscar
as TV executive
1966
4.8
Branded
1965
6.6
🎬
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
5.7
The Great Adventure
as Indian Agent McLean
1963
0.0
The Fugitive
as Lou Bragan
1963
7.2
🎬
Vacation Playhouse
as P.J. Cunningham
1963
7.0
Going My Way
1962
5.7
The Virginian
as Congressman Matthew J. Cosgrove
1962
6.4
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
as Telegrapher
1962
5.2
The Investigators
as Chief Reynolds
1961
5.0
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Route 66
1960
6.3
Journey to the Day
as Melville Cooper
1960
0.0
The Bramble Bush
as Stew Schaffer
1960
4.6
Rawhide
1959
7.2
Rawhide
as Dr. Soloman Flood
1959
7.2
Naked City
as Peter Wilkin
1958
5.5
Wanted: Dead or Alive
as Gabe Henshaw
1958
6.8
Mr. Broadway
1957
0.0
The Ninth Day
1957
0.0
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
Screen Director's Playhouse
as Sheriff Garrett
1955
6.5
The Wonderful World of Disney
as J. Henry Newman
1954
7.8
Climax!
as Eldon Abernathy
1954
3.3
Climax!
as Warren
1954
3.3
🎬
It's a Great Life
as Earl Morgan
1954
0.0
General Electric Theater
1953
6.4
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
7.2
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Dan McLain
1951
7.2
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Joey
1950
6.3
🎬
A Wonderful Life
as Henry Wood
1950
0.0
The Golden Gloves Story
as Joe Riley
1950
6.0
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
5.6
Studio One
1948
5.0
Studio One
as Frank Gabriel
1948
5.0
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
as Mike
1948
5.3
Killer McCoy
as Brian McCoy
1947
6.0
That Brennan Girl
as Denny Reagan
1946
5.1
The Caribbean Mystery
as Mr. Smith
1945
5.0
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
as Johnny Nolan
1945
7.5
🎬
Leave It to the Irish
as Terry Moran
1944
3.1
Take It or Leave It
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1944
4.0
Government Girl
as Sergeant Joe Blake
1943
5.2
The Ghost and the Guest
as Webster Frye
1943
5.2
The Living Ghost
as Nick Trayne
1942
4.1
Hold That Woman!
as Jimmy Parker
1940
5.0
Son of the Navy
as Chief Gunners Mate Mike Malone
1940
5.5
🎬
Mercy Plane
as 'Speed' Leslie
1939
0.0
🎬
Pride of the Navy
as Speed Brennan
1939
0.0
Shadows Over Shanghai
as Johnny McGinty
1938
4.8
Living on Love
as Gary Martin
1937
6.0
🎬
Venus Makes Trouble
as Buzz Martin
1937
3.5
We Have Our Moments
as John Wade
1937
5.8
Mysterious Crossing
as Addison Francis Murphy
1936
0.0
Come Closer, Folks
as Jim Keene
1936
0.0
Two-Fisted Gentleman
as Mickey
1936
0.0
Hearts in Bondage
as Lt. Kenneth Reynolds
1936
4.4
Bad Boy
as Eddie Nolan
1935
5.0
Welcome Home
as Richard Foster
1935
0.0
The Daring Young Man
as Don McLane
1935
0.0
George White's 1935 Scandals
as Eddie
1935
4.0
The Payoff
as Joe McCoy
1935
4.9
Bright Eyes
as Loop Merritt
1934
6.7
365 Nights in Hollywood
as James 'Jimmy' Dale
1934
0.0
Have a Heart
as James 'Jimmie' Flaherty
1934
7.0
Baby Take a Bow
as Eddie Ellison
1934
5.6
Change of Heart
as Mark McGowan
1934
6.2
Stand Up and Cheer!
as Jimmy Dugan
1934
4.9
Hold That Girl
as Barney Sullivan
1934
0.0
🎬
Take a Chance
as Duke Stanley
1933
4.0
Jimmy and Sally
as Jimmy O'Connor
1933
4.0
Arizona to Broadway
as Smiley Wells
1933
7.0
The Girl in 419
as Dr. Daniel French
1933
3.5
Hold Me Tight
as Chuck Evans
1933
0.0
Hello, Sister!
as Jimmy
1933
5.8
Sailor's Luck
as Jimmy Fenimore Harrigan
1933
5.0
Handle with Care
as Bill Gordon
1932
0.0
Society Girl
as Johnny Malone
1932
6.0
Dance Team
as Jimmy Mulligan
1932
0.0
Over the Hill
as Johnny Shelby as an Adult
1931
8.2
Sob Sister
as Garry Webster
1931
0.0
Bad Girl
as Eddie Collins
1931
5.9
The Song Plugger
as Man in Record Shop
1930
4.0
🎬
In the Nick of Time
1929
0.0