Actress. She is best remembered for her portrayal of the vibrant Tillie in the western classic "Oklahoma Annie" (1952). After singing for several years in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association, she was discovered by the comedy team Abbott and Costello during a nightclub performance at The Cocoanut Grove. Impressed by her blonde good looks and rotund figure, they took notice of her potential and arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her performing alongside them in a supporting role in "Here Come the Co-Eds" (1945). From there, she would go on to appear in over 45 features, often typecast as wives, mothers, matrons, athletes, waitresses, gangster molls, singers, con-artists, dowagers, old maids, housekeepers, secretaries, retail clerks, educators, white-collared workers, landladies, eccentrics, nurses, and comic foils. She appeared in such feature films as "The Dark Horse" (1946), "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" (1947), "My Girl Tisa" (1948), "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948), "Alias Nick Beal" (1949), "Feudin' Rhythm" (1949), "A Woman of Distinction" (1950), "Copper Canyon" (1950), "He Flew the Shrew" (1951), "Bargain Madness" (1951), "Reducing Madness" (1952), "Blue Canadian Rockies" (1952), "Houdini" (1953), "Down the Hatch" (1953), "Red Garters" (1954), "He Took a Powder" (1955), "Never Say Goodbye" (1956), "Giant" (1956), "Emergency Hospital" (1956), "The Unholy Wife" (1957), "Portland Expose" (1957), "Cat Ballou" (1965), "Flap" (1970), and "The Unholy Rollers" (1972). During the advent of television, she became a familiar face appearing in numerous guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "The Gene Autry Show," "December Bride," "The Bob Cummings Show," "Sam Benedict," "The Danny Thomas Show," "National Velvet," "Rawhide," "Here's Lucy," "Lost in Space," and "The Danny Thomas Show". During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been a regular parishioner of the Catholic church, was supportive of the California State Democratic Committee, was coined by Louella Parsons as being "America's Biggest Glamour Girl", had been a chairwoman for her local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, was one of the founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, had been a celebrity spokeswoman for Shriners Hospital for Children, and she was married to businessman Dan Unland from 1950 to 1988 (their union produced one daughter). After retiring from acting in 1972, she established, and managed, the Damax Storage Center in Van Nuys, California, and was a generous benefactor for several schools and libraries, until her death from the complications of respiratory problems.