The granddaughter of architect Frank Lloyd Wright began her career at the age of 13 years in New York City. She worked on stage before 1940, they turned to Twenty Mule Team, her film debut for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She played in many films before in 1946 was for her portrayal of Sophie MacDonald in The Razor's Edge one Academy Award as best supporting actress.

Their most famous role was as the ruthless young actress Eve Harrington in All About Eve (All About Eve), for which she was nominated in 1950 for an Academy Award as best actress. In the 1970s she starred in the musical Applause, an adaptation of All About Eve, the role of an aging diva Margo Channing, which was played on film by Bette Davis. Another highlight of her career was the role of Nefretiri in Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments (The Ten Commandments, 1956).

In 1947 she married the actor John Hodiak. The marriage, which created a daughter, were divorced in 1953, and she was then with Randolph Galt (with whom she had two daughters married) and David Klee. She died in 1985 in New York unexpectedly at a brain hemorrhage and was in the cemetery of the Unity Chapel in Spring Green, Wisconsin, buried.

Her last role was as the hotel manager in the television series Hotel, from the novel by Arthur Hailey.

Filmography: