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Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties. She attended Goucher College where she was a member of Alpha Phi sorority.

After a couple of roles in Broadway productions, Dunnock won praise for her performance as a Welsh school teacher in The Corn is Green (1940). The 1945 film version marked her screen debut opposite Bette Davis.

During the 1940s Dunnock performed mostly on stage, in such dramas as Another Part of the Forest (1946) and Death of a Salesman (1948). She reprised her Salesman role in the 1951 film version. She originated the role of Big Mama in the Tennessee Williams` Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, although she lost the movie role to Judith Anderson. Her films include The Trouble with Harry (1955), Love Me Tender (1956), Baby Doll (1956), Peyton Place (1957), The Nun`s Story (1959), BUtterfield 8 (1960), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).

She was the uncredited woman in the wheelchair pushed down to the stairs to her death by Richard Widmark in the 1947 film Kiss Of Death.

In addition to her successful career as a character actress in film and theater, Dunnock appeared frequently in numerous TV series in guest roles, and later in her career, several made-for-television movies, including a remake of Death of a Salesman in which she played Linda Loman for the third time.

Dunnock was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Death of a Salesman in 1951, and for Baby Doll in 1956. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Baby Doll. Her final film was The Pick-up Artist (1987), which starred Robert Downey, Jr. and Molly Ringwald.

Dunnock has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6613 Hollywood Boulevard.

Dunnock was married to Keith Urmy from 1933 until her death, and had one child.

Dunnock died in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, of natural causes at the age of 90.