[2] At 18, she made her motion-picture debut in the musical comedy Miss London Ltd.[3] The following year, she had a small role in Harold French's social satire English Without Tears.

Her career received a boost when she was seen by a 20th Century Fox executive while performing in a stage production of Sabrina Fair, and was offered a screen test.

Her first American film was Island in the Sun (1957), followed by No Down Payment, both for Fox, after which Owens was lent to Warner Bros. to appear in the critically acclaimed drama Sayonara (1957).

[7] Owens carried much of that horror film's narrative, which was largely presented in flashback from her character's point of view.

By 1965, Owens was working in Black Spurs, a B-Western produced by A. C. Lyles, who was renowned for using older stars in that genre.