[2][4] In 1927 she was a member of the Betty Ross Clarke Company and toured to Perth,[5] performing in The House of Glass, The Bride and The Ghost Train.

[9] Its producers, Cinesound, sent her to Hollywood where she studied make-up techniques for film work[9] and also collected a selection of "detachable nails, teeth and eyelashes".

[11] During American Helen Twelvetrees' visit to Sydney for the filming of Thoroughbred, Dunckley was her private secretary, managing her diary and fan mail.

[12] After losing an expensive artificial eyelash that she had imported, she experimented with different types of hair and invented a piece of equipment to hold the threads while she painstakingly wove, trimmed and curled them.

[13] She adorned one of her evening dresses with milk bottle tops and made earrings from buttons, in each case using chewing gum to hold them together.

She designed body make-up for Anthony Quayle for his performances of Othello on the Stratford Company's Australian tour in 1952.