Cutts was born in
London, the daughter of the writer-director
Graham Cutts. Her first roles were supporting parts in British films. These ranged from small roles to more substantial ones (such as playing the love interest in
Those People Next Door in 1953). She moved to the US in 1958, where she appeared in American movies and television shows. From 1958, she appeared in
Alfred Hitchcock Presents and
Perry Mason, where she played defendant Sylvia Oxman in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Dangerous Dowager" and Ann Eldridge in the 1966 episode, "The Case of the Bogus Buccaneers". She continued to work consistently in film and television on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the 1950s, including a small appearance in
North by Northwest. as D'Artagnan in a 1960 television production of
The Three Musketeers In 1959 she appeared on
Groucho Marx's
quiz show You Bet Your Life with
American football coach
Jack Curtice as her co-contestant. She was a regular panellist on the
DuMont quiz
Down You Go and starred alongside
Vincent Price in
The Tingler. In 1958, she appeared in the film
Merry Andrew, starring
Danny Kaye. The following year, she had a good role as the second female lead in the war movie
Battle of the Coral Sea (1959). In the 1960s, she made guest appearances on such television shows as
The Lucy Show;
Car 54, Where Are You?;
Adventures in Paradise and
Playhouse 90. and
Angela Lansbury from a 1959
Playhouse 90 production After several quiet years she returned to the UK and was in the 1972 British television series ''
Spyder's Web before accepting the role of Blanche Hunt in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street'' in 1974. It would have been her most high-profile regular role to date but after appearing in only two episodes, Cutts was found dead at her flat in
Chelsea, London, aged 48. An inquest into her death produced a verdict of suicide by
barbiturate poisoning. ==Selected filmography==