She was born Pansy Wilcox, one of the six children of Kentucky optometrist and
drugstore owner James Wilcox. Her siblings included actress
Ruth Selwyn,
who was married to producer-director
Edgar Selwyn, one of the founders of
the Goldwyn Studios, and director
Fred M. Wilcox, who directed
Lassie Come Home (1943) and
Forbidden Planet (1956). She was also the sister-in-law of actress
Norma Talmadge, who was married to her brother-in-law
Joseph M. Schenck,
and mother-in-law of actor
Helmut Dantine, best known for appearing in
Casablanca (1942). After a career as a showgirl, she became the second wife of
Nicholas M. Schenck (
Nicholas M. Schenck, the president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer parent-company
Lowe's Inc. and one of the pioneers of the movie industry. He also owned the
Palisades Amusement Park in Fort Lee, New Jersey from 1911 until 1935, with
his older brother Joseph, also a movie-industry executive.
The Schencks had three daughters: Marti, who married actor Helmut Dantine;
Joanne, who gave her parents two grandchildren, Leslie and Kevin Frank Brandt;
and Nicola, who was a nightclub chanteuse.
Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City(1949)as Self