She was briefly engaged to actor Charles "Buddy" Rogers who later married Mary Pickford.
Dorothy attended the Children's Professional school in New York City.
On December 31, 1940 she married Edward E. Bates. Dorothy happily have up her career to become a housewife. The family lived in Manhattan where Edward ran the Bates Auto Rental Corporation.
When she was a teenager she danced with the Metropolitan ballet company.
Dorothy joined the cast of Ziegfeld Follies in 1931. That same year she made her film debut in the drama Resurrection.
The beautiful brunette also posed nude for photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston.
During the 1930s she worked as a model appearing in ads for Whitman's chocolates and Mello-glo make-up.
The sixteen year old Dorothy Flood made her Broadway debut in Whoopee starring Ruby Keeler. She impressed the producers so much that she became Ruby's understudy.