She came from a family of notable achievers: the third of four children of author and publisher Rudolph Chambers Lehmann.

[4] Lehmann trained at RADA and made her stage debut as Peggy in a 1924 production The Way of the World at the Lyric Hammersmith.

[6] She wrote short stories and two novels, including Rumour of Heaven, first published in 1934 (ISBN 014016166X).

She played Susan Calvin in "The Prophet" (1967), a now lost episode of the British science fiction television series Out of the Unknown, and appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Stones of Blood (1978) as Professor Emilia Rumford.

[9] Other roles include Z-Cars, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, War and Peace, Love for Lydia, Staircase, Armchair Thriller and Crime and Punishment.