Actress. She is best remembered for her portrayal of the headstrong, and ill-fated, housekeeper Elvira in the psychological thriller "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962). Born Maidie Gamble, she began her professional career performing in Shakespearian plays as a child growing up in Lima, Ohio. Upon attaining her master's degree in speech and theatrical arts from Columbia University, she relocated to California and began working as regular performer on "The Jack Benny Program" and "Amos 'n' Andy". Upon being introduced to director Walter Holmes during a social function at the Actors Laboratory Theatre, he was so impressed by her dark good looks, charm, and professionalism, that he took notice of her potential and arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her appearing under his supervision per a supporting role in "The Burning Cross" (1947). From there, she would go on to flourish as a recognizable character actress appearing in over 80 features; often typecast as wives, mothers, grandmothers, old maids, secretaries, maids, retail clerks, receptionists, businesswomen, governesses, nurses, white-collared workers, educators, dowagers, clergywomen, and matriarchs. She appeared in such feature films as "The Peanut Man" (1947), "Manhandled" (1949), "The Well" (1951), "Bright Road" (1953), "Torch Song" (1953), "Executive Suite" (1954), "Susan Slept Here" (1954), "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" (1955), "Mad at the World" (1955), "The Opposite Sex" (1956), "Written on the Wind" (1956), "No Greater Love" (1960), "4 for Texas" (1963), "A Fine Madness" (1966), "The Final Comedown" (1972), "Sixteen" (1973), "A Star is Born" (1976), "Airport '77" (1977), "Movie Movie" (1978), and "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (1982). On television, she became an even more familiar face appearing in numerous guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "Hallmark Hall of Fame," "Fireside Theatre," "Cavalcade of America," "Four Star Playhouse," "Dragnet," "Letter to Loretta," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Wide Country," "Perry Mason," "Ben Casey," "Breaking Point," "The Twilight Zone," "Dr. Kildare," "Hazel," "Death Valley Days," "CBS Playhouse," "Dragnet," "Ironside," "Insight," "Judd for the Defense," "Room 222," "Mannix," "Cannon," "Love Story," "Rhoda," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Lucas Tanner," "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," "Good Times," "Kung Fu," "Harry O," "The Jeffersons," "Police Woman," "Bronk," "Baretta," "Little House on the Prairie," "Roots: The Next Generation," "The Incredible Hulk," "Barnaby Jones," "Cagney & Lacey," "Enos," "Bare Essence," "Hotel," "Matt Houston," "Amen," and "Simon & Simon". During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been a regular parishioner of the Methodist church, was a member of the Hollywood Republican Committee, presided as a chairwoman for her local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs, had been a theatrical instructor for the UCLA, was a 1977 inductee into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, had been a 1985 recipient of the professional artists award from the California Educational Theatre Association, was one of the founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, and she was married to real estate broker McHenry Norman with whom she mothered one son. Following her 1988 retirement, she spent the remainder of her life being a regular attendee at autograph conventions, and was involved in charitable and religious causes, until her death.