Her parents were both from Louisiana; her father was an author and traveler and served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Woodrow Wilson administration.

[3] She was presented as a debutante in Washington, D.C.[1] Her older sister Miriam, also an actress, married Italian aristocrat Mario Carillo.

[4][5] During World War I, Crosby went to France as a Red Cross nurse,[6] while her father was director of the Commission for Relief in Belgium.

Her Broadway credits included roles in Martinique (1920),[7] The Nest (1922),[8] The Love Child (1922 –1923), Home Fires (1923),[9] The Show-Off (1924 –1925),[10] Nirvana (1926), Chicago (1926–1927), and Charley's Aunt (1941).

[15] Crosby married playwright, theatre critic, and film producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. in 1923.