Vaughn frequently played a "pleb", or a commoner, in the films she acted in (waitresses, maids, charwomen, governesses, and saleswomen). A fixture at
MGM in the sound era of the early 1930s, she acted in more than 50 films. Her most notable films were 1933's
Dinner at Eight where she was memorable as
Jean Harlow's blackmailing maid, as well as
Today We Live (1933),
Chasing Yesterday (1935), and
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940). She appeared on
Broadway, and in 1924 toured as the lead in
Rain based on a story by
W. Somerset Maugham. Her "smoldering quality" came back to Broadway two years later in
The Seed of the Brute at the Little Theatre. She also appeared on Broadway in
Glory Hallelujah. After making several films, Vaughn was part of the
Hollywood blacklist. She returned to the stage in 1942 to play the lead in
Only the Heart at the American Actors Company. In 1943 she appeared in
William Saroyan's
Get Away Old Man, followed by several other appearances, including playing the nurse to
Judith Anderson's
Medea and the mother in ''
The Devil's Disciple'' by
George Bernard Shaw. She was also known for her concert readings of plays. == Death ==