A handsome, mature actress who usually played society ladies, Lois Austin is remembered for one role in particular: that of "Mom," whose failure to provide innocent daughter June Carlson with the necessary guidance leads the young girl down the garden path in the "sexploitation thriller" Mom and Dad (1944). Produced and exhibited by low-brow showman Kroger Babb, Mom and Dad played the grind-house circuits for decades, titillating rather more than educating its huge audience. Austin's other roles were miniscule and by 1947 she was already listed as "elderly woman" in Joan Fontaine's Ivy. Austin retired from screen work in 1953, her final released film, 1957's Jet Pilot, having been filmed years earlier.