Windsor, unofficially appointed “Miss Utah of 1939″ by the Chamber of Commerce of Marysvale, Utah, trained for the stage under Maria Ouspenskaya.[a] After working for several years as a telephone operator, a stage and radio actress, and a bit and extra player in films, she began playing feature and lead parts in 1947. The 5’9” actress’s first memorable role was opposite John Garfield in Force of Evil playing seductress Edna Tucker. Windsor also co-starred with Randolph Scott in The Bounty Hunter (1954). She had roles in numerous film noirs, especially notably. The Sniper, The Narrow Margin, City That Never Sleeps, and Stanley Kubrick’s heist movie, The Killing, playing Elisha Cook Jr.’s scheming wife. She also made a foray into science fiction with the 1953 release of Cat-Women of the Moon. Later, Windsor moved to television. She appeared in 1954 as Belle Starr in the premiere episode of Stories of the Century. In 1962, she played “Ann Jesse”, a woman dying in childbirth, in the episode “The Wanted Man” of Lawman. She appeared on such programs as Maverick, Bat Masterson, Perry Mason, Bourbon Street Beat, The Incredible Hulk, Rawhide, General Hospital, Salem’s Lot (TV miniseries), and Murder, She Wrote. Windsor was among the 500 stars nominated for selection as one of the 50 greatest American screen legends, as part of the American Film Institute’s 100 years. Windsor was politically conservative, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

Windsor married twice, first briefly to bandleader Ted Steele. After they divorced, she married Jack Hupp, a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball team. Hupp, with whom Windsor had a son, was posthumously inducted into the University of Southern California (USC) Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. After her acting career was over, Windsor became a painter and sculptor. She died of undisclosed causes on the day before her 81st birthday. She is interred with Hupp in her native Marysvale, Utah.