Walley appeared on television in episodes of
Naked City ("To Walk in Silence ") and
Route 66 ("Ten Drops of Water"). She was reluctant to take the role, as she recounted to interviewer Sharyn Peacocke: "I was this kind of snobby New York actress involved with the
Actors Studio, and I felt all my friends would think I was selling out. I had a very low opinion of Hollywood at the time -- which I admit now was a totally distorted picture -- but it wasn't what I wanted. This was going to really mark my career, and take it in a direction that I was really not wanting to go. But of course I couldn't get out of it. I ended up working with some wonderful people like
Carl Reiner and
Peggy Cass and
Jeff Donnell, and a lot of people coming from theater backgrounds, like
Michael Callan. I realized that all Hollywood actors hadn't sold out -- there were some really good actors, and it was just a totally different medium that was new to me."
Gidget Goes Hawaiian was popular and established Walley as a name among teenage fans and she won the
Photoplay award for Favorite Female Newcomer. She appeared in
The Young Lovers (1964) for MGM. followed by the lead role in the science-fiction film
The Bubble (1966).
Television Walley guest-starred on ''
Burke's Law ("Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?"), The Greatest Show on Earth'' ("This Train Don't Stop Till It Gets There"),
Wagon Train ("The Nancy Styles Story") and
Gomer Pyle: USMC ("Lies, Lies, Lies"),
The Men from Shiloh ("With Love, Bullets and Valentines"),
Off to See the Wizard ("Rhino") and
Love, American Style. Filmink argued "Walley was considered part of an earlier, squarer time and could never make the leap to New Hollywood." Actress
Kay Cole had played Suzie in the original pilot, but Walley replaced her for the series' two seasons on the air. Walley worked as an art director on ''
The Courtship of Eddie's Father and an episode of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.'' ("The Double-O-Nothing Affair").
Later career Walley's later film appearances included
Drag Racer (1971),
The Severed Arm (1973) and
Benji (1974). Walley moved to Sedona, Arizona in 1991 to focus on raising her family while writing and producing. She cofounded Pied Piper Productions, a nonprofit theater company for children, and was a cofounder of the Sedona Children's Theater. She published her first book, ''Grandfather's Good Medicine
, in 1993, which was based on the plot of The Legend of Seeks-To-Hunt-Great''. She also wrote scripts and taught acting and production techniques to American Indians through her Swiftwind Productions company, and she continued to produce and appear in plays. ==Personal life and death==