[2][3] After brief modeling and radio experience, Dow was spotted by a talent agent and cast in a television show in February 1949.

Dow made nine films, most notably as Nurse Kelly in Harvey (1950), starring James Stewart,[4] and co-starring with Best Actor Oscar nominee Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory (1951).

[5] After being featured in several crime dramas, Dow had starring roles in two 1951 family films, Reunion in Reno and You Never Can Tell.

Dow retired after three years in the business to marry Walter Helmerich III, an oil driller[6] from Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951.

[8] The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, an award given annually since 1985 to a distinguished author by the Tulsa Library Trust, is named in her honor,[9] as is the drama school at the University of Oklahoma[10] and the auditorium at Northwestern University School of Communication's Annie May Swift Hall.