She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald O'Connor.

This led to roles on Broadway in Panama Hattie, By Jupiter, and A Connecticut Yankee, where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn, who cast her opposite Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo in the 1945 film Wonder Man.

However, the Decca Broadway Original Cast Album of 1943's revival of A Connecticut Yankee has two vocals by Vera-Ellen, "I Feel at Home with You" and "You Always Love the Same Girl," both duets with Chester Stratton.

Vera-Ellen's penultimate film role was the 1954 blockbuster hit White Christmas, co-starring with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney.

[citation needed] According to Hollywood chronicler Brian Cronin, what he describes as Vera-Ellen's "extremely thin"[9] appearance led to rumors during her career that she had an eating disorder.

[9] A rumor that her neck was always covered during the filming of White Christmas because of wrinkling caused by supposed anorexia persists to this day.

"[9] Her niece by marriage, Ileana Rothschild, born in 1967, remembered that her aunt "never stopped taking dance classes and maintained her slim figure always."

[citation needed] Vera-Ellen died at the Los Angeles County General Hospital on August 30, 1981, of ovarian cancer.