Chicago-born Darlene Tompkins came from a "show biz family", with relatives who worked in vaudeville and in plays (Tompkins' three-years-younger aunt is actress Beverly Washburn). A beauty contest victory opened some Hollywood doors for Tompkins, who began appearing in commercials, co-starred in Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) (at age 18) and appeared in TV series and additional features, including Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii (1961). Marriage and motherhood derailed her screen career, but she managed to return in the 1970s to work as an extra, a stand-in and stunt-woman, occasionally stunt-doubling on Charlie's Angels (1976) (for Cheryl Ladd, and in other TV series and movies.