Whittell was born on November 30, 1883, in San Francisco, California[1] to Charles and Susan Cunningham.

[2] Early in her career, Whittell performed as a chorus girl in Anna Held's theatrical company.

[3] Whittell began her film career during the silent era, debuting in a featured role in 1917's Alimony.

[5] In 1931 Whittell returned to films, with supporting roles in two Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, Caught Plastered and Peach O'Reno.

Some of those films include: Stage Door (1938), starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Adolphe Menjou;[9] 1939's The Women, with Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell;[10] the 1945 version of State Fair, starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews;[11] King Vidor's The Fountainhead, the film version of the Ayn Rand novel of the same name, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal;[12] the musical, In the Good Old Summertime, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson;[13] George Stevens' A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters;[14] the Cecil B.