She was diagnosed with uterine cancer which was removed in 1978.
She belongs from a Catholic family and, since a very young age, had aspirations to become an actress.
Some of her best known big-screen features have been How Green Was My Valley 1941 her first collaboration with John Ford , The Black Swan with Tyrone Power 1942 , The Spanish Main 1945 , Sinbad the Sailor 1947 , the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street 1947 with John Payne and Natalie Wood, and Comanche Territory 1950.