A high-spirited, spunky British lead actress, she graduated from London's Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. She debuted onstage in 1950 and onscreen in 1952. She was a busy screen actress for a decade, then took five years off from films before making her most popular appearance, in Born Free (1966); this film concerns lions, a fact made note of in the titles of her two volumes of memoirs, Born Free: On Playing with Lions and Some of My Best Friends Have Tails. She usually played appealing, down-to-earth roles. She married and divorced actor Denholm Elliott, then married actor Bill Travers, her costar in Born Free and other films.