Background
Holt was born on April 28, 1928, in Snyder, Texas, to Malcolm C. and Verna Vesta Stavely, née Chandler.
Holt was born on April 28, 1928, in Snyder, Texas, to Malcolm C. and Verna Vesta Stavely, née Chandler.
After she graduated from high school in Hagerman, New Mexico, she attended McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.
She was a model in Houston, Texas. In August, 1957 she was among nine models sent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Rose Marie Reid Swim Suits of Los Angeles and the Eileen Ford Agency in New New York Holt appeared in various television commercials in 1958 and reportedly signed a $50,000-a-year model contract in New York at age 29.
She was in a Revlon lipstick commercial, in which she was reportedly spotted by director Howard Hawks who later cast her in several of his films.
She was subsequently named "Mission Sweater Girl" in October, 1958 by the Wool Bureau. The contest was held in the Crystal Suite of the Savoy Hilton Hotel in New New York
Holt"s first credited role was as Lisa, a model, in If a Manitoba Answers, a 1962 comedy film directed by Henry Levin and starring Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. In 1965 she appeared on Perry Mason as Helen Cadmus in "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla." In 1966, she co-starred in El Dorado opposite John Wayne.
In all, she performed in over 20 television and film productions between 1962 and 1980.
