Her notable films include The Last Gangster (1937), in which she co-starred opposite Edward G. Robinson and James Stewart, and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) with Gregory Peck.

[2] While still an infant, she moved with her parents to Trieste and Isonzo, where her father was stationed as an engineer in charge of troop transportation during World War I.

After the war, Stradner was educated at the Sacred Heart Academy in Vienna, where she wrote, directed and performed in student plays.

[3] On her 19th birthday, Stradner approached Austrian theatrical producer and film director Max Reinhardt directly, and asked him for an acting job.

She auditioned and under Reinhardt's tutelage, acted in over 50 theatrical productions, including plays written by William Shakespeare, Molière, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw.

[3] According to one newspaper, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was so captivated by Stradner that he saw one of her plays three times and gave her a bouquet.

[6] During a talent search, László Willinger's photographs of Stradner caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) while she was performing in a stage adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Fräulein Else.

She was then imported into the United States on the same ship with director Victor Saville, actresses Hedy Lamarr and Ilona Massey, singer Miliza Korjus, and screenwriter Walter Reisch.

[8] In 1937, Stradner was placed under contract to MGM where studio publicists considered renaming her Andrea Marlow or Andra Marlo.

[9] A review in Variety praised her performance, writing Stradner "is a natural as the gangster's wife, the accent fitting in perfectly.

He cabled talent agent Leland Hayward for assistance when Stradner was being considered for a New York production of Lorelei but she did not earn the role.

She was just on her way back up and that really was a tremendous blow to her..."[20] Despite her illness, her son Tom wrote: "She had a unique ear for languages and spoke English and later Italian fluently, without a trace of accent.

When they returned to Los Angeles, on Stradner's 26th birthday, MGM studio writers and producers greeted them at the railway station with rice and a ten-piece orchestra.