She studies his sizable collection of books and includes his ‘virile’ wastepaper basket as one of the illuminating artifacts she infers as deliciously masculine. When we first meet Miss Ronberry she is eager to become acquainted with the new tenant whom she thinks is a rugged Colonel. Ironically it was Dunnock, and not Barrymore, who was asked to reprise her role on film when Warner Bros bought the rights and insisted their star Bette Davis be cast for the lead in 1945. Her performance attracted the attention of Hollywood. Barrymore inhabited the role of Miss Moffat the spinster schoolteacher who is passionate about transforming the life of uneducated, proud young Welsh Miners and giving them a chance to lift themselves out of the darkness and reach toward a better life.ĭunnock plays the prissy spinster Miss Ronberry, a reluctant assistant teacher who becomes devoted to Moffat’s endeavor. Mildred Dunnock was cast in the supporting role to Ethel Barrymore who by that time, had a long and successful stage presence. Though she only appeared in 25 feature films, the quality of her work is to be celebrated.ĭunnock’s breakthrough role came eight years later, as Miss Ronberry in the original production of Emlyn Williams’ hit play The Corn is Green 1940-42. Her theatrical career debuting on The Great White Way at the age of thirty, lasted over 45 years including 23 shows on Broadway. She later taught at the Friends School in New York and acted with the Morningside players in their show Life Begins which led her to Broadway, working with the Selwyn Theater in 1932.ĭunnock’s career spanned over four decades, and she was one of the few actresses to have created important roles in the theater by some of the leading playwrights of the twentieth century, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. But the role that would garner the most praise, both stage and screen versions, is Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.ĭunnock was born in Baltimore, Maryland and acted throughout her college years with the Vagabond Players and the John Hopkins University troupe in Baltimore. Her weighty performances earned her two Oscar nominations and praise for her performance in Tennessee William’s Sweet Bird of Youth. She is an American actress who was prolific in playing spinsters and middle class mothers. With the dignity of a weathered carved tree, Dunnock is spare and angular, a handsome yet fey looking woman with a modest hair style and time worn features. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)Ī “superb actress who didn’t find nearly the roles she deserved” and “suffered the deprivations more keenly than less sensitive artists would have.” –Elia Kazan I WANT YOU, Mildred Dunnock, 1951 Courtesy Everett Collection PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xCourtesy圎verettxCollectionx MBDIWAN EC033
MILDRED DUNNOCK NEW YORK CITY – JANUARY 20: Mildred Dunnock sighted on Januat DJ Nite Club in New York City. This was Collinge’s last appearance in film. Both actresses were also prominent leading ladies of the theatre.Īnd coincidentally The Nun’s Story co-starred Mildred Dunnock and Patricia Collinge. It is with extreme pleasure that I’ll be giving attention to two extraordinary actresses who have contributed a quiet depth of character to both film and dramatic television, Patricia Collinge and Mildred Dunnock.
Leave it to the finest classic film bloggers to host one of the BEST blogathons there is! Thank you so much to Aurora of Once Upon A Screen, Kellee of Outspoken and Freckled and Paula of Paula’s Cinema Club for the opportunity to take a deep dive into the span of these two women’s careers.
Just a brief glimpse of them in a story manages to bring something quite special and undeniably memorable.
Once again my favorite blogathon has rolled around, giving me the chance to pay tribute to the great character actors who add a certain depth and extra layer to stage, film and television. I’m an ordinary person in an ordinary life-Mildred Dunnock