Born in San Francisco, California, Dupree made her acting debut in a touring company under John A. Stevens in 1887.

[11][12] The next year, she made a big impression in a small role in William Gillette's New York play Held by the Enemy.

[11][13] She received a number of important supporting roles, working with Richard Mansfield, Stuart Robson, and Nat Goodwin.

[11] Other leading roles followed, including in The Climbers (1901), A Rose o' Plymouth-town (1902), Heidelberg (1902), The Music Master (1904), and The Road to Yesterday (1906).

[citation needed] Her later stage career was not successful, and exceptions were The Old Soak (1922), The Shame Woman (1923), Outward Bound (1924), playing Mrs. Midge, and as a replacement for the part of Martha Brewster in the hit Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941.