Baker was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Virginia (née Duffy) and William Watson Baker, who was a traveling salesman. She spent a year at community college, and subsequently worked as a magician's assistant.

Baker began her film career in 1953, with a small part in Easy to Love. After appearing in television commercials and training at New York's Actors Studio, she took a role in the Broadway production of All Summer Long. That appearance brought her to the attention of director Elia Kazan, who cast Baker as the title character in his controversial Baby Doll. Her Tennessee Williams-scripted role as Read more...

Baker has been married three times. Her first, to furrier Louie Ritter, ended before she enrolled in the Actors Studio in 1954. Her second marriage was to director Jack Garfein, a Holocaust survivor she met at the Studio and for whom she converted to Judaism. They had one daughter, Blanche Baker, born in 1956, and a son, Herschel Garfein, born in 1958. Garfein and Baker divorced in 1969.

Baker Read more...