Stewart's professional career began at age 16 when she was a swing singer at a club on 52nd Street in New York City for $35 per week. (She lied about her age to get the job.) That opportunity ended with an automobile accident that broke her nose and injured her face so badly that only after 10 weeks were doctors sure that she would not be permanently disfigured. Still wearing bandages and recovering from the accident, she won a job through an audition with
Jerry Livingston's band. She toured the southern and midwestern United States with that orchestra. When
Marion Hutton left
Glenn Miller's orchestra to have a baby, Stewart was selected as her replacement via an audition. Hutton's return would have left Stewart without a job, but Miller arranged for her to sing with
Claude Thornhill's orchestra. Following the disbanding of Thornhill's orchestra, she was a featured soloist on radio on
Your All-Time Hit Parade. After 13 weeks on that program she sang for 16 weeks at the
Copacabana night club, which led to her being discovered by a scout for
20th Century Fox and signing with that studio. She was recruited by a Hollywood talent scout after an appearance at the
Stork Club in
Manhattan. Stewart made her film debut in
Doll Face (1945), in which she acted alongside
Vivian Blaine and sang a duet with
Perry Como. She then featured in
Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946) opposite
Richard Crane, then in ''
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now'' (1947) with
June Haver. The following year, she starred with
Donald O'Connor in
Are You with It?. She also appeared on Broadway in the musical
Park Avenue from 1946 to 1947. Stewart performed one of her best-known roles as murder victim Mildred Atkinson in the classic
In a Lonely Place (1950). The film is regarded as one of
Humphrey Bogart's finest performances. That same year, she featured in
Convicted with
Glenn Ford and
Broderick Crawford. She went on to star in
Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952) alongside
Alan Young and
Dinah Shore. She appeared on television as the co-host of
Those Two from 1952 to 1953, and in one episode of
The Red Skelton Show in 1954. Nearly a decade would elapse before she featured in the episode "A Nice Touch" of
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Stewart acted for the final time in
Surf Party (1964), after which she retired. ==Personal life and death==