While a professional survivor, she was often cast as a victim—the pathetic, bleating, sometimes dumb woman who is discarded by a callous leading man and not seen after the first couple reels. Among her best roles in this line were "A Double Life," "Lolita," "The Night of the Hunter," "A Place in the Sun," "The Big Knife," "Alfie" and "The Great Gatsby." She almost made it entirely through one of her best-known movies, the ocean liner disaster flick "The Poseidon Adventure," but drowned just before her fellow passengers reached daylight.