Actress. She is best remembered for her recurring voice portrayal of the lively Chiquita Banana within that company's official animated ad campaign during the the late 1940s and mid-1950s. Born May Lewis, she was raised in a prominent theatrical family, the youngest of three children born unto professional pianist Leon Lewis, a musical director for CBS, and Jessica Lewis, a lead singer within the Chicago Opera Company. Upon relocating with her family to New York City, New York, in 1933, while attending the Professional Children's School, she began her formal career singing on WMCA. While performing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra during a social function at the Waldorf Historia, she was discovered by film director Gerald Mayer. Impressed by her articulate voice, blonde good looks, and wholesome image, he arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her being under his supervision in "Inside Straight" (1951). From there, she would go on to flourish as a character actress, often typecast as wives, mothers, playgirls, best friends, sidekicks, vocalists, neighbors, secretaries, nurses, educators, retail clerks, saleswomen, chorines, gold-diggers, reporters, photographers, detectives, old maids, businesswomen, cowgirls, landladies, clergywomen, snobs, nannies, judges, artists, and, in her later years, matriarchs. She appeared in such feature films as "Excuse My Dust" (1951), "Everything I Have Is Yours" (1952), "Affair with a Stranger" (1953), "The D.I." (1957), "Charley Varrick" (1973), "The Sting" (1973), "Earthquake" (1974), "Airport '77" (1977), "Rollercoaster" (1977), "Zero to Sixty" (1978), "The Concorde" (1979), and "Dead Heat" (1988). During the advent of television, she flourished as a household name appearing in numerous guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "Appointment with Adventure," "The Danny Thomas Show," "Those Whiting Girls," "Studio 57," "Tales of Wells Fargo," "M Squad," "Peter Gunn," "Riverboat," "Overland Trail," "Laramie," "Shotgun Slade," "The Tall Man," "General Electric Theatre," "Arrest and Trial," "Kraft Suspense Theatre," "Laredo," "Convoy," "Wagon Train," "The Virginian," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Night Gallery," "Ironside," "Barbary Coast," "Quincy M.E.," "Santa Barbara," "Remington Steele," and "The Law and Harry McGraw." During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, was a regular parishioner of the Temple Israel of Hollywood, had been supportive of the California State Democratic Committee, was a chairwoman for her local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, was a vocal instructor for the Pasadena Playhouse, had been recognized as a 1952 Deb Star, served as vice-president for Music Heals, was briefly courted by actor, whom later became both politician and president, Ronald Reagan, and she was married to record producer Bob Thiele from 1945 to 1947 and later to actor and producer Jennings Lang from 1956 to 1996 (her first union ended in divorce and her second union ended upon Lang's death and produced three sons). Upon retiring from acting and singing in 2007, she spent the final years of her life being a regular attendee at autograph conventions, published her memoir "Hollywood Through My Eyes" in 2011, and was a generous benefactor for several hospitals, schools, and libraries, until her death from the complications of advanced age.