When Eilers was young, she moved to Los Angeles with her parents, and in 1927 she graduated from Fairfax High School.

After several minor roles as an extra, in 1927–1928 she found work with Mack Sennett as one of his "flaming youth" comedians[1] in several comedy short subjects, along with Carole Lombard, who had been a school friend.

Her films were mostly comedies and crime melodramas such as Quick Millions (1931) with Spencer Tracy and George Raft.

[11] During her final years, Eilers suffered poor health, and died from a heart attack on January 5, 1978, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 69.

She was cremated and her remains were interred in a small niche in the Freedom Mausoleum, Columbarium of Understanding, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.