At age 11 she began studying dance, specializing in tap-dancing; by age 17 she was on Broadway. She debuted onscreen in 1935 and was soon considered the world's best tap-dancer; she appeared in a dozen films, but by the mid '40s her appeal had worn thin. In 1943 she married Glenn Ford; shortly thereafter she retired from the screen, going on to appear in only one more film. She and Ford were divorced in 1959, whereupon she made a brief but very successful comeback in Las Vegas and New York nightclubs. Later she occupied herself with charity and church work.