[4] Vickers was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the daughter of jazz musician Charles Vedder.

She later moved to New York City to model for White Rain shampoo advertisements, but she eventually returned to California to pursue an acting career.

During the same period, she made a number of appearances on TV shows,[5] including an episode of One Step Beyond titled "The Aerialist", aired on April 28, 1959, and an episode of Bat Masterson titled "Double Trouble in Trinidad," aired January 7, 1959 as "Jessie Simmons."

She appeared with interviewer Tom Weaver on the audio commentary track of the 2007 DVD release of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Her mummified body was discovered by actress and neighbor Susan Savage on April 27, 2011, in her home at 10021 Westwanda Drive, Beverly Hills.

The month of her death is unknown, but forensic scientists concluded that she may have been dead for as long as a year before her body was discovered.

Her autopsy was completed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, who ruled her cause of death to be heart failure resulting from coronary artery disease.

[9] Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner issued statements expressing his sorrow and outrage at her lonely death.