An American actress, born in Massachusetts, United States, to a father who worked in the real estate field. She studied theater and appeared for the first time on Broadway. She also received great acclaim for her role in the play June Moon (1929), after which she presented the play They Shall Not Die (1939). Due to her inability to take this theatrical success to the screen, she remained on stage and did not return to cinema for nearly two decades, and then had roles in From Hell It Came (1957) and The Parent Trap (1961).