Best Actress nominee for A Ship Comes In (1927-28)
Dresser’s first film was The Glory of Clementina (1922), and her first starring role was in The City that Never Sleeps (1924), and she made an impression as Catherine the Great opposite Valentino In The Eagle (1925).
Oscar Role:
In 1929, at the age of 50, Dresser was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for A Ship Comes In, a silent film directed by William K. Howard, in which she plays Mrs. Plesznick, a Polish Immigrant.
Dresser’s last film was Maid of Salem (1937), after which she retired.
Dresser died in 1965, at age 86 in Woodland, California, after surgery for intestinal cancer,
Oscar Context:
The winner of the Best Actress Oscar was Janet Gaynor for three roles: Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise.
There were only three nominees in the first year; the third being Gloria Swanson in Sadie Thompson.
