[3] Through her mother's connections, Hutchinson made her film debut at the age of 13 in The Little Princess (1917), starring Mary Pickford.

Under contract with Warner Bros., Hutchinson went to Hollywood in 1934, debuting that year in Happiness Ahead, starring opposite Dick Powell.

She later played the sister of the villainous Vandamm, posing as "Mrs. Townsend", in North by Northwest (1959)[9] and Mrs. Macaboy in Love Is Better Than Ever, starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Her other Broadway credits included The Cherry Orchard (1933), Alice in Wonderland (1932), Dear Jane (1932), Alison's House (1931), Camille (1931), Alison's House (1930), The Women Have Their Way (1930), The Living Corpse (1929), Mademoiselle Bourrat (1929), The Cherry Orchard (1929), The Seagull (1929), Peter Pan (1928), The Cherry Orchard (1928), Hedda Gabler (1928), Improvisations in June (1928), The First Stone (1928), 2 x 2 = 5 (1927), The Good Hope (1927), Inheritors (1927), The Cradle Song (1927), Twelfth Night (1926), The Unchastened Woman (1926), and A Man's Man (1925).

In March 1963, Hutchinson appeared in an episode of GE True, entitled "The Black-Robed Ghost".

In 1971, Hutchinson appeared in The Waltons' television movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, in which she played Mamie Baldwin, one half of a sister duo who made moonshine whiskey.

[14] Hutchinson continued to work steadily through the 1970s in film, radio, and television, establishing a solid career in supporting roles.

[17] The press quickly dubbed her Le Gallienne's "shadow", a term which at the time meant lesbian.