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 and 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.