[2] Kaye is of German and Cherokee descent and was born in Carthage, Missouri, to chemical engineer John W. Burkholder and his wife, Kathryn, who ran a private preschool.

In addition to her performing arts interests, which included learning dance and organ, she toured regionally as a diver and exhibition swimmer with the Wilmington swim club.

[3][4] While working on the show she continued her education, attending Los Angeles City College at night and studying modern jazz at Eugene Loring's American School of Dance.

Although her Cherokee heritage wasn't known by the producer at the time she was cast, the press for the movie played it up, drawing attention to the fact that she looked "like an Indian with her dark hair and skin".

Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner called her performance two-dimensional, while Mae Tinee of the Chicago Tribune wrote that she "handles a difficult role with grace and ease.