Irene Dunne (1898-1990)
Filed under the name Irene · March 28, 2026
Irene Dunne got nominated for the Academy Award five times and never won one, which the more I think about it the more it bothers me, because from everything I've read she could do comedy and drama both, and that kind of range is rare as hen's teeth. Reminds me of a student I had, oh, must've been the class of '82, a little girl who could sing and do arithmetic and never got picked for a single solo — some folks just don't get the recognition their gift deserves, not on this earth anyway. Miss Dunne worked through what they call Hollywood's golden age, and I imagine that took its own kind of grit, being a woman making a career in a business that wasn't exactly handing out fairness. I've got my hives out back keeping me busy this winter, and even the bees know some of the best workers never get thanked properly. Don't let that stop you from doing good work anyway — that's the moral, if there is one.