Actress. She appeared in a large number of film, stage, and television productions over a half-century career. Raised in Santa Monica, California, she got her theatrical start in a campus presentation of "The Gentle People" while a student at UCLA. Working as a fashion model for Adrian, she financed a move to New York, where she made her Broadway bow in the 1950 "A Story for a Sunday Evening". Over the years Martin had a long list of credits on The Great White Way, including 1958's "J.B." (which earned her a Tony nomination), "Under the Yum Yum Tree", and "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale". Her big screen debut came with "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" (1956), to be followed by such films as "Toys in the Attic" (1963), 1975's "The Other Side of the Mountain" (along with its 1978 sequel), and the 1987 "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". She was often cast in "mother" parts, which led to probably her best known screen role, that of Ali MacGraw's snobby, unpleasant, mother in 1969's "Goodbye Columbus". Martin also did extensive television work begining in the early 1950s, with her credits including "The Twilight Zone", "Ben Casey", "The Untouchables", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "The Golden Girls", and "NYPD Blue". She was in the the 1983 "The Thorn Birds", the evening soap "Santa Barbara", and had the recurring role of Mrs. Louder on "The Drew Carey Show". Martin was to garner a number of awards, including a 1992 Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Award for "Odd Jobs", and Washington's Helen Hayes Award for the 1989 Kennedy Center presentation of "The Road to Mecca". Martin last appeared on the big screen in 2005's "Thicker Than Water"; she lived her final years in southern California, and died of complications of emphysema.