At age 14 and a tall blonde, Dunn started out as a member of the chorus at the
Winter Garden Theatre. Her first appearance was in the chorus of "Good Morning Dearie." Rather than return to school she continued in her Broadway career, appearing in almost 20 productions including the
Ziegfeld Follies, and ending her Broadway run with "Kid Boots." '', 1930 Dunn visited the Paramount studio with a friend and attended the
Paramount Pictures School in 1926 after being discovered there. Her first film role was in
Fascinating Youth (1926), which was cast with the school's graduating class. She went on to have the lead roles in ''
Love's Greatest Mistake (1927) and Fireman, Save My Child'' (1927). After nine months of inactivity in film, Dunn signed a long-term contract with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She starred in 23
silent films, and in 1929 she was one of 13 girls named as "
WAMPAS Baby Stars", which that year included actress
Jean Arthur. In 1930 she made a successful transition, unlike many silent stars, to sound films. In 1930 she starred in
Safety in Numbers (1930) alongside
Carole Lombard and
Kathryn Crawford. She starred in sixteen films through 1932. == Personal life ==