Elaine Dunn

Elaine Dunn, born Elaine Dombcik in 1933 or 1934, is an American actress, singer, and dancer whose career spanned Broadway, television, recording, and live performance. A native of Cleveland, she is the daughter of a commercial artist. Her uncle, who worked as a dancer and comedian in nightclubs, was an early influence on her path toward performance. As a child, Dunn took voice lessons to address a speech impediment, and she began studying ballet and tap dancing at age seven.

At thirteen, Dunn entered a competition against 750 other girls and won, earning an appearance at a benefit performance alongside Danny Kaye. That engagement led directly to a booking at Chin's Victory Room in Cleveland, after which she spent three years touring the East and Midwest, with her mother serving as both companion and manager. By age eighteen, she had arrived at the Copacabana in New York City, where a two-minute flamenco number drew intense audience response. The trade publication Billboard subsequently described her performance there as still electric upon a follow-up viewing.

Dunn's Broadway career ran from 1953 to 1963 and included five productions. She appeared in John Murray Anderson's Almanac in 1953 and Catch a Star! in 1955. She also performed in Pal Joey and took part in productions of Flower Drum Song and Bye Bye Birdie. In 1960, she played the female lead in a touring company production of Flower Drum Song, and she starred in a West Coast production of Bye Bye Birdie in 1961. A West Coast production of Sweet Charity followed in 1967.

Her work in Las Vegas included a stint as a vocalist in The Tropicana Revue at the Tropicana Hotel in 1957. That same period brought her into a friendship with model and showgirl Marilyn Johnson. Dunn also recorded during this era, releasing "Touch Me" backed with "Far Away Places" on RCA Victor in 1959, and in 1961 she signed an exclusive recording contract with Warner Bros. Records.

On television, Dunn was a regular on Broadway Open House and appeared on programs hosted by Perry Como, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Steve Allen, and Ed Sullivan. She was also featured on The Hollywood Palace, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Wild Wild West, season two, episode thirteen. During the Vietnam War, she traveled with a troupe led by Bob Hope to perform for military personnel. Dunn married hotel executive Dean Shendal, and the couple has a son.