Born in rural Kentucky, she and her family relocated to Brooklyn, where her father worked as a businessman. Following her high school graduation, she was recommended to partake in a singing contest held by a local radio station from friends. She was so successful that she worked professionally as a singer during the Second World War, during which she was discovered. After breaking into films in 1946 she was often cast as best friends, starlets, good girls, and secretaries, in a three decade film and TV career. After leaving films in the 1960s, she spent her life dedicated to family and religious causes.