A dispute over salary had Warner Bros putting her in bad pictures or standard roles. She later moved to England.
Attempted to have her Warner Brothers contract terminated over financial issues, after finding out that she made the same money as the five-year-old who played her son in Three on a Match (1932).
Attended St. Catherine's Convent in Manhattan when young, but later was enrolled at the Page School for Girls in Los Angeles.
Daughter of actress Anna Lehr and Biograph director/actor Edwin McKim.
Direct descendant of US Vice President Calhoun (1825-32)
Her friend Joan Crawford was the one who introduced her to Howard Hughes, who in turn was looking for a girl for his production of Scarface (1932). She made $250 a week.
Her parents divorced when she was 8. She did not hear from her father after that for fourteen years, when she put out a letter in 1934 asking for information leading to his whereabouts. Six other men responded claiming to be her father before he did. He was living in Philadelphia at the time and had no idea she was in the movies.
Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004).
She had no children.
She was an avid bibliophile and had a large and valuable collection of first editions dating back to 1703.