She was best known for her role as Ursula in the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid. She said in an interview that she wanted to be in a Disney movie for a long time.

In an interview with Disney Parks, she said that Ursula is bigger than life in her head, laugh, and meanness. She's a bad person. People are interested in mean characters. I'm interested in her when I see it.

She had a successful career in TV before that. When she was a child, the family moved to Los Angeles. She acted in theater shows after graduating college. She received a nomination for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut.

There were recurring roles on The Danny Thomas Show and Make Room for Daddy. She won an award for her performance in the show. She was a guest on many variety shows.

She put on a one-woman play that ran for 14 months in New York before she took it on the road. The show won two awards, one for Best Actress and one for Best Production off Broadway.

She told the Washington Post that her kids noticed how immersed she was in the role.

Her children told her that she was repeating everything three times. There are no contractions in the first act of the show.

In 1981 he won a gramophone for best spoken word, documentary, or drama recording.