She was born Elinor A. Edmonston on September 15, 1916 in Washington D.C. Her father, Eric Edmonston, worked on the street railway. When she was fourteen she dropped out of high school and moved to New York City to pursue a dancing career. Flo Ziegfeld discovered her and put her in the Ziegfeld Follies. Then she appeared in Earl Carroll’s Vanities and became Billy Rose’s first “Glamazon.” The statuesque showgirl was six feet, two inches tall with raven hair and blue eyes. On February 21, 1934 she married forty-two year old Charles Carrera Jr. They split up two years later. Busby Berkeley cast her in his musical Gold Diggers Of 1935. He called her “the girl with the perfect figure”. Elinor appeared in numerous films including Meet The Boyfriend, Gold Diggers In Paris, and The Fleet’s In. Unfortunately most her roles were bit parts. She dated George Jessel, Lyle Talbot, Franchot Tone, and Frank Fay (the ex-husband of Barbara Stanwyck).

In 1937 she began an affair with married singer Jack Doyle. His wife divorced him and named her in a “love theft” suit. Elinor made headlines in 1938 when she punched Jack at a nightclub! After a five day romance she became engaged to millionaire Tommy Manville in 1939. They flew to New York City to get married but she left him at the alter. During the 1940s she continued to appear in films and danced in the Follies Bergere. Sadly she developed tuberculosis which forced her to stop working. Her final movie was the 1946 drama Of Human Bondage. By 1948 she was bedridden and nearly bankrupt. Several of her Hollywood friends, including Van Johnson, gave her money to pay for her medical care. Tragically on November 29, 1949 she died from tuberculosis. She was only thirty-three years old.