Enjoying studying English, and developing an interest in acting, she doorstepped Arthur Shields during his visit to Belfast pretending to be a journalist.
She moved with her parents to Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra, Dublin in 1937 and she successfully auditioned for the Abbey Theatre's School of Acting.
[1]There she studied alongside Wilfred Brambell, Valentine Iremonger, Phyllis Ryan, Dan O'Herlihy, and briefly, Maureen O'Hara.
She was one of the original members and honorary secretary of the Dublin Verse-Speaking Society, founded in December 1939 by Austin Clarke and Robert Farren.
[1][2] She worked as an editorial assistant for Woman's Life, ghost writing an agony aunt column and managing beauty pageants.