[1] Du Brey was born in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho,[1] to an Irish-American mother, Lilly (née Henry), later Mrs. Richard Fugitt.

[3] Du Brey's screen career began with Universal Studios and she played at one time or another with almost all the larger companies.

She was five feet seven inches high, weighed 130 pounds and had auburn hair and brown eyes, and took a lively interest in horticulture.

[3][2] However one other (perhaps less reliable) source from 1920 indicates that Du Brey, who had trained as a nurse, was the elder actress's "assistant and caregiver" while Dressler was ill with terminal cancer.

[5] Du Brey married Los Angeles medical doctor Norman Gates on November 25, 1911; the couple divorced sometime in the 1920s.