text: Career As a teenager, Kirk moved to New York City to study acting and changed her last name from Kirkegaard to Kirk. She began her career on Broadway before embarking on a television and film career. Among 1949 stage appearances were My Name is Aquilon in New York and the road company of Present Laughter before beginning her long-term contract with Samuel Goldwyn in Hollywood that summer.
  Kirk is best known for her many roles throughout the 1950s. In Two Weeks With Love, she sang and danced with Jane Powell, Richardo Montalban and Debbie Reynolds (1950). She appeared with Vincent Price in the 3D horror film House of Wax (1953), the first major 3D movie. She co-starred as Frank Sinatra's love interest in the western he produced, Johnny Concho (1956). She replaced Gloria Vanderbilt in the role a week before filming began.
  Her most notable television role was opposite Peter Lawford in The Thin Man (19571959), wherein they played Nick and Nora Charles. A newspaper columnist described what distinguished Kirk's role in the program: "[I]t's her brains that keep her flying high on 'The Thin Man' series." She also received an Emmy nomination as Best Actress in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series in 1959.