Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1920, Green was raised in an upper middle-class family, the eldest child of Russell and Gladys Hufford.

[2] That census also shows that she had two brothers by 1930, Warren and William, and that a "servant" resided full-time in the Huffords' home in Santa Monica, an indication of the family's somewhat elevated financial circumstances.

One day, however, an incidental social contact at a local charity event changed the course of Green's life and destined her for a career in entertainment.

In the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades in western Los Angeles, while volunteering her time to model clothes in a fashion show to raise money for a charity, she impressed the wife of a local talent agent.

After some additional performances in other productions presented by the Manhattan Playhouse, Green got her first professional job on television, on a live broadcast of the Jack Benny Program, in April 1953.

Some examples of the latter are the Adventures of the Falcon, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, The Whistler, Mike Hammer, Studio 57, Casey Jones, The Real McCoys, Sugarfoot, Panic!, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Gunsmoke, (as Julie in “Caleb” S9E26) The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, 77 Sunset Strip, Thriller, The Investigators, Perry Mason, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Hawaiian Eye, Bonanza, My Three Sons, Kraft Mystery Theater, The Munsters, Tammy, The Virginian, Daniel Boone, Ironside, Mannix, Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, and Emergency!

In that episode's storyline, set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, Green plays a wife whose husband is killed under suspicious circumstances while working with his wayward brother.

According to 1939 Los Angeles County records, her first husband was Wallace Wade Woodson, who was a 28-year-old native of Montana living in San Fernando, California.