[1] Her family moved to Cleveland during her childhood, where she began studying piano at the age of nine, at the Phyllis Wheatley School of Music.

[1] She began acting at the Friendly Inn Settlement and married Lloyd Gentry in 1932.

On Broadway, Gentry performed in All God's Chillun Got Wings (1975), The Sunshine Boys (1972), Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1971), and Lysistrata (1946).

[2] She also appeared in several films, including The Brother from Another Planet, Def by Temptation, and Jungle Fever.

She portrayed Aunt Bess on the television series All My Children and Miriam George on Ryan's Hope.