She made her stage debut at age 4 in a local production of Madame Butterfly and later attended Wesleyan College in Macon.

[1] She performed in several Broadway plays through 1956,[2] and appeared in many New York-based television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including a recurring role on As the World Turns[3] and portraying Margaret on the ABC serial Road to Reality (1960).

[4] She created several one-woman shows, which she played in regional theaters, Great Britain, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

[5] After nearly two decades, she returned to Broadway for one more production, playing Aunt Nonnie in a December 1975 to February 1976 revival of Tennessee Williams Sweet Bird of Youth.

[1] Bankhead, the matron of honor at Rawls' wedding, was the godmother of their two children,[1] one of whom, Brockman Seawell, became a stage, television and film producer.