Editing Irene Dunne (section)

=== 1950–1962: Declining movie-star power ===
Dunne's last three films were box-office failures.{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|p=171}} The comedy ''[[Never a Dull Moment (1950 film)|Never a Dull Moment]]'' (1950) was accused of trying too hard.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cameron |work=Daily News |first1=Kate |title=''Never a Dull Moment'' – A Zany Comedy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/450598421/ |date=1950-11-22 |quote=There are some engagingly-homely touches in the comedy, but for the most part, it is given over to slapstick antics and strains too hard for its comic effects. |access-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-date=September 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914175529/https://www.newspapers.com/image/450598421/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Screen in Review; 'Never a Dull Moment,' New Film at the Rivoli, Stars Irene Danne, Fred MacMarray |newspaper=The New York Times |author=Bosley Crowther |date=November 22, 1950 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D0CEFDB113BE23ABC4A51DFB767838B649EDE |quote=...its sole achievement as entertainment is the presentation of Irene Dunne in a series of rustic encounters that are about as funny as stepping on a nail. |access-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-date=October 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014035434/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D0CEFDB113BE23ABC4A51DFB767838B649EDE |url-status=live }}</ref> Dunne was excited to portray [[Queen Victoria]] in ''[[The Mudlark]]'' (1950)<ref name=mudlark>{{cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog – The Mudlark |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27714-THE-MUDLARK |website=American Film Institute |access-date=June 1, 2020 |archive-date=June 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625213143/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27714-THE-MUDLARK |url-status=live }}</ref> for a chance to "hide" behind a role with heavy makeup and latex prosthetics.<ref name="Bawden"/>{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|p=170}} It was a success in the UK, despite initial critical concern over the only foreigner in a British film starring as a well-known British monarch,<ref>{{cite news |title=Irene Dunne as British Queen 'Insult' |work=[[Los Angeles Examiner]] |date=1958-03-30}}</ref> but her American fans disapproved of the prosthetic decisions.<ref name="Bawden">{{cite news |last1=Bawden |first1=James |title=A Visit with Irene Dunne |work=American Classic Screen |date=1977-09-10 |page=9}}</ref> The comedy ''[[It Grows on Trees]]'' (1952) became Dunne's last movie performance,<ref name=trees>{{cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog – It Grows on Trees |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50523-IT-GROWS-ON-TREES |website=American Film Institute |access-date=June 1, 2020 |archive-date=June 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625064856/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50523-IT-GROWS-ON-TREES |url-status=live }}</ref> although she remained on the lookout for suitable film scripts for years afterwards.{{sfnp|Gehring|2003|p=172}} She filmed a [[television pilot]] based on ''[[Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 film)|Cheaper by the Dozen]]'' that was not picked up.<ref name="Bawden"/> On the radio, she and [[Fred MacMurray]] respectively played a feuding [[Editor-in-chief|editor]] and reporter of a struggling newspaper in the 52-episode comedy-drama ''[[Bright Star (radio)|Bright Star]]'', which aired [[broadcast syndication|in syndication]] between 1952 and 1953 by the Ziv Company.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Bright+Star,+comedy%22&pg=PA119 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=119–120 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-08-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=2 Big Hollywood Actors in Great New Comedy Roles |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/13405505/?terms=bright%2Bstar%2Bfred%2Bmacmurray%2Birene%2Bdunne |work=The Indiana Gazette |date=1952-01-05 |page=14 |access-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614180113/https://www.newspapers.com/image/13405505/?terms=bright%2Bstar%2Bfred%2Bmacmurray%2Birene%2Bdunne |url-status=live }}</ref> She also starred in and hosted episodes of [[Anthology series|television anthologies]], such as ''[[Ford Theatre]]'', ''[[General Electric Theater]]'', and the ''[[Schlitz Playhouse of Stars]]''. [[Faye Emerson]] wrote in 1954, "I hope we see much more of Miss Dunne on TV,"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Emerson |first1=Faye |title=Faye Emerson Writes on Radio and TV |work=[[Albuquerque Tribune]] |date=1954-04-21}}</ref> and Nick Adams called Dunne's performance in ''[[Saints and Sinners (1962 TV series)|Saints and Sinners]]'' worthy of an [[Emmy]] nomination.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Parsons |first1=Louella |title=Hollywood |work=[[Anderson Daily Bulletin]] |date=1962-10-12 |quote=What makes me feel so bad is that Miss Dunne is so wonderful as the movie actress with an incurable disease she is sure to be in the running for an Emmy award.|author-link=Louella Parsons}}</ref> Dunne's last acting credit was in 1962, but she was once rumored to star in unmaterialized movies named ''Heaven Train''<ref>{{cite news |author1=Hedda Hopper |author-link1=Hedda Hopper |title=Irene Can't Wait for 'Heaven Train' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/382417209/?terms=irene%2Bdunne |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1965-09-20 |page=21 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801234631/https://www.newspapers.com/image/382417209/?terms=irene%2Bdunne |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''The Wisdom of the Serpent'',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Parsons |first1=Louella |title=Inside Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/559577117/ |work=The Hanford Sentinel |date=1952-10-18 |page=2}}</ref> and rejected an offer to cameo in ''[[Airport '77]]''.<ref name="Frye">{{harvp|Frye|2004}}</ref> In 1954, [[Hedda Hopper]] reported a rumor that Dunne would star alongside [[Robert Mitchum]] in [[Charles Laughton]]'s stage adaptation of ''[[The Web and the Rock]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hopper |first1=Hedda |title=Chandler, Baxter 'Spoilers' Co-Stars |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63591772/ |work=Los Angeles Times |date=9 December 1954}}</ref> "I never formally retired," Dunne later explained, "but an awful lot of the girls my age soldiered on in bad vehicles. [I] couldn't run around with an ax in my hand like [[Bette Davis|Bette [Davis]]] and [[Joan Crawford|Joan [Crawford]]] did to keep things going."<ref name="Bawden"/>