Gilmore is her stepfathers name.
Her son, Roc Brynner, wrote the biography on his father "Yul, The Man Who Would Be king" in which he chronicles his parents' stormy marriage.
Suffered from alcoholism for a number of years but recovered and later became a leader in the Alcoholics Anonymous program where she volunteered much of her time. She also went on to teach drama at Yale University for several years.
Was a Hollywood starlet in 1942 when she met future husband Yul Brynner. He had only been in America a few months and knew very little English at the time, waiting on tables, parking cars and singing gypsy songs in clubs to make ends meet.