James Dunn

James Howard Dunn was born on November 2, 1901, in Manhattan, the only child of Ralph H. Dunn (c. 1875–1943), a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and Jessie L. Archer (c. 1871–1946). Of Irish descent, he grew up in New Rochelle, New York, where he frequently skipped high school classes to visit film studios in the upper Bronx. After graduation, he worked briefly in sales and spent three years at his father's brokerage firm before leaving in 1927 to pursue theater. He sought work as an extra in short films at Paramount Pictures' Long Island studios and joined a stock company out of Englewood, New Jersey, for a 37-week engagement, followed by a 22-week run with the Permanent Players at the Playhouse Theatre in Winnipeg, Canada. He then landed the male lead in the touring company of the 1929 musical Sweet Adeline, opposite Helen Morgan, a performance that attracted the attention of film studio executives.

In 1931, Fox Film conducted a screen test after MGM passed on Dunn at its Astoria Studios facility in Queens. Fox director Frank Borzage cast him in the film adaptation of Bad Girl, and Dunn signed a contract with Fox and relocated to Hollywood. His screen debut in Bad Girl made him and co-star Sally Eilers overnight stars. Fox immediately paired them again in Over the Hill (1931), Dance Team (1932), Sailor's Luck (1933), and Hold Me Tight (1933). By the end of 1932, Dunn was considered one of the top ten box-office draws, and by the end of 1933 was being referred to as "America's boyfriend." During this period he also appeared on Broadway, with credits including the musical Panama Hattie, the play His Majesty's Car, and Harvey, spanning 1930 to 1944.

In 1934, Dunn appeared in seven Fox films, three of which marked the first film appearances of six-year-old Shirley Temple. In Stand Up and Cheer!, the two played a father and daughter sharing a song-and-dance sequence, with Temple teaching Dunn the tap steps she had learned at dancing school. Studio executives immediately cast them together again in Baby Take a Bow, a remake of the 1928 silent film Square Crooks, in which Temple again played Dunn's daughter. Their third pairing, Bright Eyes, was written specifically as a Temple vehicle, with Dunn cast as a bachelor pilot who seeks to adopt her character; Temple sang "On the Good Ship Lollipop" aboard his character's airplane. Temple later described the first day of shooting together as "the start of my great romance with Jimmy Dunn," and credited him with treating her as a peer. Dunn, who had initially worried about being overshadowed, acknowledged Temple's professionalism and counted himself among her fans. Temple received top billing in each of their films, and her career soon eclipsed his.

During his five years as a Fox contract player, Dunn appeared in 30 films. In 1935, at the height of his popularity, he broke his studio contract two years before its expiration, reportedly dissatisfied with his recent assignments apart from the Temple pictures, and was reimbursed for the remainder of his deal. In 1936, he signed a two-picture deal with Republic Pictures, beginning with Hearts in Bondage. As musicals declined in the late 1930s, his career slumped through a series of B movies, compounded by a personal struggle with alcoholism.

Having not worked for a major studio in five years, Dunn was selected by director Elia Kazan for the role of Johnny Nolan, the dreamy alcoholic father, in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). The performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Despite the recognition, the Oscar did not substantially revive his film career, and he transitioned increasingly to television work, guest-starring in dozens of episodes of popular series throughout the 1950s and into the mid-1960s. He held a regular role in the sitcom It's a Great Life from 1954 to 1956. In 1960, his contributions to both film and television were recognized with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. James Howard Dunn died on September 1, 1967.