[1] She had a number of starring roles in the silent era, most famously as Buster Keaton's leading lady in Seven Chances (1925).

[2][3][4][5] Her sister Ethel Selina Dwyer also had a brief silent film career although best known as "Jane" opposite Ronald Adair in the 1921 Broadway production of Tarzan of the Apes.

[7] After a marriage and divorce,[8] Dwyer was married to actor and talent agent William Jackie until his death in 1954.

They operated the Ruth Dwyer Agency in San Francisco, helping people obtain parts in films and television shows.

[9] Dwyer died on March 2, 1978, at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.