Born Anita Louise Fremault in New York, New York, she made her acting debut on Broadway at the age of six, and within a year was appearing regularly in Hollywood films. By her late teens she was being cast in leading and supporting roles in major productions, and was highly regarded for her delicate features and blonde hair.

As her stature in Hollywood grew, she was named as a WAMPAS Baby Star, and was frequently described as one of cinema's most fashionable and stylish women. Her reputation was further enhanced by her role as Hollywood society hostess, with her parties attended by the elite of Hollywood, and widely and regularly reported in the news media.

Among her film successes were Madame Du Barry (1934), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Marie Antoinette (1936), The Sisters (1938), and The Little Princess (1939).

By the 1940s she was reduced to minor roles and appeared very infrequently before the advent of television in the 1950s provided her with further opportunities. In middle age she played one of her most widely seen roles as the mother in the television series My Friend Flicka from 1956 until 1958.

She virtually retired after this. Her husband of twenty years, the film producer Buddy Adler died in 1960. Anita Louise died from a stroke in Los Angeles, California at the age of 55, and was interred next to Adler at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.