Career
She had a very successful stage career as Winifred Lee, from 1912 before being signed by the Fox Film Corporation in the late 1920s. Her first film was Doctor"s Wives (1931) in which she played under the name Nancy Gardner, a name given to her by Fox. After this, she spent a time coaching several young actresses before returning to film under her real name.
She appeared in some fifty Hollywood films including.
Laurel and Hardy"s Block-Heads, The Merry Widow, The First Year, Boom Town, High Sierra, Hoop-Louisiana, The Thin Manitoba, and The Best Years of Our Lives.