Background
Ward was born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Ethel Laurinda (née Wheeler) and Frederick Ward.
Ward was born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Ethel Laurinda (née Wheeler) and Frederick Ward.
Her son is actor/singer David Cassidy. She was of Colonial American, Irish, and Swiss descent. Her ancestors were among the founders of Newark, New Jersey.
Ward began her performing career as a teenager dancing with the Roxyettes at the Roxy Theater.
After understudying Mary Martin in the musical Dancing in the Streets - which closed "out of town" in the spring of 1943 - Ward made her Broadway debut that summer in the musical Early to Bed. Her subsequent Broadway musical credits include The Firebrand of Florence (1945), Spring in Brazil (1945), Billion Dollar Baby (1946), and Along Fifth Avenue (1949).
Her subsequent theatrical credits were mostly in regional theater, but she did return to the Broadway musical stage in the spring of 1958, replacing Gwen Verdon in the lead role in New Girl in Town. She also performed in nightclubs in New York City and Boston, and in 1954 performed in a Las Vegas revue.
Ward"s television credits include Manitoba from United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, Ben Casey, Doctor Kildare, Perry Mason, Mike Hammer, The Furthur Adventures of Ellery Queen, and Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Ward died on December 23, 2012, from Alzheimer"s-related dementia.