Elliott began her career in 1968 in the
science fiction film The Green Slime. She later appeared in the films
Birch Interval (1976),
Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), and
Natural Enemies (1979). In 1973, Elliott appeared in a made-for-TV adaptation of
The Man Without a Country. In 1976 she portrayed Minnie Adams in
The Adams Chronicles, a thirteen-episode miniseries on PBS. She is best known for her portrayal of
Renée Divine Buchanan on the
ABC soap opera One Life to Live, a role she played on a recurring basis from 1988 to 2011. She assumed the role from its originator,
Phyllis Newman. She guest starred on such television series as
Kojak, the
ABC Afterschool Special,
St. Elsewhere, and
Spenser: For Hire. She won a
Tony Award for her performance as Countess Charlotte Malcolm in the original 1973 production of
Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. She played the role of Dorine in the 1977
Circle in the Square revival of
Molière's
Tartuffe, for which she was nominated for a
Drama Desk Award. She reprised this role when the production was restaged for television on
PBS in 1978. ==Personal life==