Downs was born in Port Jefferson, New York. She was the daughter of James Nelson Downs and Edna Elizabeth Newman. A former Vogue cover model, she was brought to Hollywood in 1944 by a 20th Century-Foxtalent scout. She initially found little work as an actress as the studio used her as a model, with limited opportunities to act. Downs began her film career with small roles in State Fair and The Dolly Sisters. In 1946 she played the title role in My Darling Clementine and Clifton Webb's unfaithful wife in The Dark Corner. Following the success of My Darling Clementine, Downs was cast in a prison drama For You I Die, an Abbott and Costello comedy The Noose Hangs High, and several western films. In 1947, Downs was inexplicably dropped by Fox, and she was never employed by another major studio. By the beginning of the 1950s, she was appearing in lower-budget films, including some science fiction stories, including the 1958 SciFi/fantasy Missile to the Moon. She portrayed Ann Howe in the syndicated TV series The Joe Palooka Story. She appeared in a television episode of The Lone Ranger in 1952. Downs worked sporadically on TV during the 1960s, with her final appearance in 1965 on Perry Mason as murder victim and title character Millicent Barton in "The Case of the Hasty Honeymooner." Downs eventually abandoned acting at 40. She remained unemployed for the rest of her life. She is now a cult-figure among sci-fi fans for her work in these Poverty Row epics. Downs has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to television, at 6646 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life
On October 8, 1949, in Las Vegas, Downs married Joe Kirkwood Jr., who played the character Joe Palooka in films and on TV. The couple divorced on February 24, 1955. They had long been out of touch, when, in 1976, Kirkwood heard that Downs was in dire financial straits. Kirkwood was setting up a trust fund for her when he learned she had died of cancer at the age of 50. On July 21, 1956, Downs married Robert M. Brunson, an electronics executive. They divorced on July 29, 1963. She is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica.
