[1] Born Violet McNaughton in Hamilton, Ontario,[1] her work as Jennet Adair in vaudeville included performing as a "singing comedienne".

[3] Adair received a scholarship for a dramatic school course, after which she acted for two years with stock theater companies.

She moved from stock performances to replacing Irene Dunne in a production of Mother, and her New York debut came in September 1922 when she acted in It's a Boy at the Sam H. Harris Theatre.

She worked primarily on stage but also made several film appearances late in her career, most notably as Aunt Martha, one of Cary Grant's dotty old aunts in Arsenic and Old Lace, a role she originated on Broadway.

Her final performance was as the beloved matriarch Rebecca Nurse in the original production of The Crucible.