Appeared in productions for fourteen Los Angeles-based theater companies during her career.
While studying drama at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York she was offered a screen test for a role in From Here to Eternity and a contract with Columbia Pictures. However, she spurned the offer on advice from actor Montgomery Clift.
Her sister: Jeanie died a week after she died at 94.
Survived by her two children: Claudia, and Dirk, and three grandchildren: Lorelei, Amanda, and Crystal.