Once called "America's most beautiful girl",[1] she eventually succumbed to alcoholism and drug addiction and died at age 32.

Her first acting role was in 1913 in the play The American Maid, written by John Philip Sousa, followed by a part in Help Wanted by Oliver Morosco.

Bruns was a passenger in a Baldwin Red Devil flown by Tony Jannus, a contestant in a New York Times derby, on October 12, 1913.

[2] The plane ascended nearly 4,000 feet and flew for twenty minutes above the air at Oakwood Heights, Staten Island.

She returned to New York in January 1920 after appearing as a vamp in London, England, in Business Before Pleasure and Potash and Perlmutter (1915).

Playing the role of Nell in At First Sight, Bruns worked with actress Mae Murray and actor Sam Hardy.

Her final film was made in France and paired her with actor Paul Guide and director Henry Houry.