The following interview with Ann-Marie Streibich, granddaughter of actress Irene Dunne, was conducted by phone on May 21, 2020, by film historian Matthew Hoffman.
MH: Your appearance in 2014 was one of the more memorable evenings we’ve had at the Park Ridge Public Library Classic Film Series. You were very generous with your time, and that’s why I wanted to reach out to you now for a (long-delayed) follow-up interview. When the library series (“Legends of Laughter III: The Screwball Comedies”) resumes, we’re going to have a couple screwball comedies starring your grandmother, Irene Dunne. I thought now would be a good time to revisit her legacy with an interview with you… I know Irene was initially hesitant about doing comedy. Yet, despite that, she was recognized as one of the finest comediennes in the genre. She of course starred with Cary Grant in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife, both of which will be shown when we resume our schedule. Irene starred with many of the major leading men in the industry, and Cary was certainly at the top of that list. Did she share any memories of working with Cary?
AMS: Actually, not really. The only thing that I remember is that my grandmother always considered her acting as a job. The people that she fraternized with… she had such an array of different people in her life who were in business, they were in politics. They were mostly things around volunteering. She was very big on the Catholic Charities, and with that being said, that’s really all I remember. She never socialized with him. She was proper, and I think that he was a little more wild.
MH: Irene was such a great actress–nominated five times for the Academy Award– but acting certainly didn’t define her life. She was also a great humanitarian. Of which accomplishment beyond Hollywood was she most proud?
AMS: You have to remember I was a child, a young adult, and of course in retrospect, had I really appreciated what she had done… There is an autobiography, you know, that she wrote, and I should probably get a copy of that to you because there might be answers in there that could answer some of the questions. I would say that the most promising things were things that she did to enhance Catholic women’s education. She was a huge supporter of women.
MH: I mean, she certainly exuded a positive energy. She had that deeply-rooted Catholic faith, and that must have been a comforting presence for you growing up.
AMS: Right. With that Catholic faith… And when I say that, I say that with such reverence because she wasn’t pious at all. I think certainly she saw a lot of things going on [in Hollywood], but like I said, it was her job. But she was very revered and respected by the Hollywood studio owners– and both the gossip columnists [Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper], which normally you had to align yourself with one or the other. They both adored her. She was the first woman to negotiate an independent contract from the studio, which really did pave the way for women in the business.
MH: Not many people– then or now– have that kind of reputation or influence in the Hollywood community.
AMS: Well, you know, it’s kind of interesting. If you look at actors like Reese Witherspoon, and their intention is very similar– the power of women.
MH: Ann-Marie, though she’s been gone nearly 30 years, what lessons from her life help you today in dealing with present-day realities?
AMS: I’m very much into empowering women. I went to a private high school here in Los Angeles, Marymount, and four weeks ago I started a group—I’m calling us “The Marymount Zoomers”– and it’s starting out kind of small and it’s grown up to twelve of us. But there’s only like fifty people in our class! So my point is, I’m integrating people into this group. It’s been a month, and my intention that I brought up for them is that I want to ask this group if they would be interested in being a mentor, being a sponsor to another Marymount graduate right now, you know, who maybe isn’t leaving in August to go to college. We’re a very tight class. I have great admiration when I look at all the careers of all the people doing this in the class. With that being said, I think it’s a really amazing collaboration to create a platform for our high school in general to use in other classes, to help young girls navigate their future, and it’s obviously confidential, you know. We will try and match who can help who with the administration of the high school… My point is that this is something my grandmother would completely admire of me.
MH: Ann-Marie, my favorite movie of hers has always been Show Boat. Which of her films is your favorite?
AMS: I love Penny Serenade. I love it because my mother was adopted and there’s that scene, you know, “I don’t know how to bathe a baby!” When she was doing that scene, she really meant it! I also love Anna and the King of Siam because I have so many still pictures and I could just see her surrounded by those Asian children and really being… delighted on that set.
MH: Which was Irene’s favorite? Do you remember?
AMS: Well, I can tell you the ones that weren’t her favorite like It Grows on Trees. Her later films were not her favorites.
MH: How did she feel about Theodora Goes Wild? Was that one of her favorites?
AMS: I don’t remember, but knowing her spunk– when you see some of the smiles, the joie de vivre, the motorcycle kind of thing [from The Awful Truth]… She just had that nature where I can see that would have been fun for her to do.
MH: I know she was born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana, and she had the Chicago connection; she attended the Chicago Musical College with the hope of being an opera singer. Although she sang in many of her films, did she ever have any regrets about not having a full-time singing career? Did that ever come up?
AMS: You know, no, I don’t believe she did because she sang in so many of her films. Maybe she considered, you know… she got different kind of training and exposure, but that’s conjecture. I wouldn’t know that. Clearly, whatever the training she had, she went for the interview for Ziegfeld for Show Boat, and that of course was made into the movie. She was young and just rolled with it.
MH: Ann-Marie, for those wanting to know more about your grandmother’s life and legacy, where should they start?
AMS: That’s a good question. I think if you’re really interested, you’ll find the answer yourself because there is enough out there. I mean even Wikipedia alone… Matthew, my daughter graduated from Notre Dame law school last May, and I bring that up because of my grandmother. There’s a school that is kind of a sister school to Notre Dame, and it’s called St. Mary’s College. My grandmother had given a commencement address there. And she also received a layman’s medal– you can look up the significance of it– but it’s called the Laetare Medal. I can send you some pictures, too, because it was so special… So the library at USC has an archive. My grandmother received the Laetare Medal, and the Laetare Medal is given to individuals– and you should look this up, too, to see who has received it– like from somebody in politics, somebody in education, or somebody in science, somebody in the Arts. My grandmother had received it as someone in the Arts. And I had set up a tour with the library archives people when my daughter graduated. I had a surprise for her. They had set up two tables of all the archives they had of my grandmother, and these were all, you know, print and were interviews, for instance. The recipient of the Laetare Medal is voted on and they don’t know about it. Everything was in writing [such as when the recipient gets the letter stating they had been awarded the medal]. I mean, these two tables! So for my daughter’s graduation gift, I gave her the Laetare Medal as I gave her the tour…. I always said to Haley, my daughter, “Your great-grandmother is watching over you every single second and that I know to be sure.” So I know it’s a highly-esteemed Catholic honor when my grandmother was addressing the women’s college, and I have the speeches, too. I have a collection of all of her speeches.
(NOTE: Irene Dunne was the 1949 recipient of the Laetare Medal, awarded annually since 1883 by the University of Notre Dame.)
MH: That’s a beautiful story. Irene was so well-loved– not just in the industry but in her humanitarian work–
AMS: Exactly. So that’s why I say, she was a delegate for the United Nations. She was bred so well. She just did a lot for women. She adopted my mother, so the empathy that must have given her to support women who had no other means of support than to be in a Catholic hospital, who gave birth to these children only to give them up to an orphanage.
MH: She was certainly an inspiration to women everywhere.
AMS: Absolutely. To answer your question, delving a little deeper, I’m curious if I reread the script from her autobiography– there is a biography of her– the answer to that question would, I guess, be in there. But I’m not sure, and I don’t have that here in Los Angeles, but I can also say that her friends were all very civic-minded, and her best friend was Loretta Young. And so Loretta and she were at the same church together, went to noon mass every day. And, of course, Loretta had an affair with Clark Gable…
MH: But no scandals with Irene!… I’m glad we were finally able to talk again, even by phone.
AMS: It’s easier for me. I can think quicker on my feet with bullet questions, but I think what I was a little intimidated about is the fact that there are just a lot of answers, and I can’t say I know for sure that I know them all. And, of course, as an adult, I look back and wish I had had the wisdom to even ask those kinds of questions.
MH: Well, when it comes to her legacy and keeping her name alive, you are my main contact, obviously. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me over the years.
AMS: Well, I will continue to do so as long as I can and help you…. Check out the Irene Dunne Society on Facebook. You’d be surprised at how much these people know. They come up with pictures and I’m like, “Where did they get that?” I mean, even pictures of my mother and my grandmother or my grandfather and my grandmother…
Theodora Goes Wild, 1937
(Ann-Marie mentioned a gift she had presented me several years ago, a framed photo of Irene from Show Boat which included Irene’s writing on the back.)
AMS: I honor the energy, and I think that the intention behind these gifts… it gives me joy to keep my grandmother’s spirit alive by showing the generosity and not holding and harboring anything that could mean something more to somebody else.
MH: It’s great that you have that attitude and that’s how you see things. It means so much to me, and that’s why I wanted to try and pay it forward to some extent and get younger audiences interested in your grandmother’s legacy and keep her name alive.
AMS: It’s interesting… So wish me luck with the Marymount Zoomers. I always say I’m really good at ideas and I’m really bad at execution, but I think something like this really taps into what I do best, and I do best by female collaboration. People say you’re lucky if you can count your friends on one hand, and I’m completely surrounded by such strong spirits that it all comes from love for one another, I have to say…. As a matter of fact, I’m going to go start some volunteering serving meals at a church around here… In her later years, I would probably say that was the biggest fulfillment of hers. I mean, as you know, we were just so close. So I know she would be proud of the woman I became.
MH: She would be very proud of you now. That’s wonderful that you are surrounded by so much support.
AMS: I’m a very positive person, and I do have hope, and I think hope is what we are all praying for right now, and really digging deeper to understanding that we are so blessed. I know that so many people are really struggling, and it’s so hard and people are dying… for those who can keep their heads above water and have faith and have hope. We can hold each other up.
MH: That’s the only way you can approach it. Thank you again Ann-Marie. I appreciate you taking the time tonight to keep in touch. I wish you and your family well.
AMS: Thank you so much, Matthew!
Ann-Marie’s appearance at the Park Ridge Public Library in 2014.
