[1] Lawson trained at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, then worked in Perth, Ipswich, Felixstowe and London's West End.

Lawson's films have included The Browning Version (1951), The World Ten Times Over and The Devil Rides Out.

Among her most memorable film appearances was as Marie Eaton in Hammer's The Devil Rides Out (1968), in which her husband Patrick Allen provided the dubbing for actor Leon Greene.

Lawson's work on television included Time and the Conways, An Ideal Husband, Rupert of Hentzau, Corridors of Power, The White Guard, Crown Court (TV series) ('No Smoke without Fire'), The Odd Man, 'The Trollenberg Terror', (vide (Latin) The Trollenberg Terror film adaptation), Bergerac, and Zero One.

She also appeared as Soviet spy Flo Mayhew in two episodes of the series Callan, starring Edward Woodward.