[1][2] Grace was born in Marin County, California, to William Sanderson and Isabella Riordan.
Her father came from a prominent San Francisco family, and her grandfather, George Henry Sanderson, was once the city's mayor.
[3] She started off her career writing magazine stories, and appeared in plays as an actress in her younger years.
[4][5] According to one newspaper account, she was once one of the highest-paid scenario writers of the late 1910s and early 1920s, but she may not have gotten credited on many of the pictures she wrote.
[7] By the end of the decade, however, she had quit the film industry to concentrate on her radio show.