[6] Perry was born Mary Elizabeth Wilson on July 13, 1916, in Bound Brook, New Jersey.
[6] She was raised by her parents, Dorothy Roe and Edward Arthur Wilson, a noted illustrator.
[6] Wilson's Broadway credits included Cream in the Well, which was directed by Mary Hunter and written by Lynn Riggs.
Wilson toured nationally with Ethel Barrymore in the production of The Corn is Green, in which she portrayed Bessie Watty.
[6] Wilson met her husband, Joseph Anthony, at Tamara Daykarhanova School for the Stage in New York City.