She was a member of the "500 Club", composed of child actors who had appeared in at least 500 radio shows. At age 7, Bender was cast as little Margaret Herbert in the popular radio dramaOne Man's Family. The role made her a household name, and she continued as Margaret for 17 years, through the series' conclusion in 1959. Her other roles on radio programs included Susan Fitz on His Honor the Barber, Susan Sample on Cousin Willie, and Maggie Truitt on The Trouble with the Truitts. She was also a regular on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and on the soap opera Bob and Victoria. Bender also appeared on Errand of Mercy and Screen Directors Playhouse.
On June 26, 1953, Bender married fellow Pasadena City College student and future Gunsmoke actor Warren Vanders ; she was only 18 at the time. The couple went their separate ways by spring of 1955, after they had both transferred to Pepperdine University.
Later career
In 1953, Bender had a supporting role in Ruth Gordon's semi-autobiographical film The Actress, based on her novel Years Ago. The film was directed by hard-hitting George Cukor, and starred heavyweights Spencer Tracy, Jean Simmons, and young Anthony Perkins. By 1955, Dawn was ready to settle down again, this time with Jerry Anderson, another drama student at Pepperdine; they went on to have two children during their marriage. Despite her career's upswing and her status as an up-and-coming ingenue, Dawn was tiring of the demands of acting, and prepared to retire to married life. In 1956, she was recruited by a friend of a friend to act in Tom Graeff's second feature Teenagers from Outer Space. Finally cast in a leading role, Dawn would play Betty Morgan, a girl who helps a rebel alien save earth from imminent destruction. She is credited in the film under the name "Dawn Anderson", using her married name to avoid strict SAG rules. The film debuted in 1959 but by then, Bender's career was winding down. She starred in her last play, André Gide's The Immoralist in 1962, and retired shortly after. She earned a teaching degree from Loyola Marymount University in the 1970s, and eventually went on to become a schoolteacher in Los Angeles county, where she taught for almost 40 years. She has since retired and still lives in the Los Angeles area with her third husband of many decades, retired Loyola professor Emmett Jacobs.
