[2] Born in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1904, to parents of Finnish descent,[1][3] Nixon began her career as a teen dancing in choruses in vaudeville.

[4] Nixon continued to work steadily throughout the mid to late 1920s appearing in Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), Hands Up!

Then, on August 11, 1929, Nixon married Chicago department store heir Edward Hillman Jr. at his parents' home.

[8][2] Nixon died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center[7] of complications following open heart surgery on February 13, 1983,[9] and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

[10] For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Nixon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street in Los Angeles, California.