Wickes moved to the new medium of television in 1949, starring in the title role of a "Westinghouse Studio One" version of "Mary Poppins". In the 1950s, Wickes played the warm yet jocular maid Katie in the "Mickey Mouse Club" serial "" and regular roles in the sitcoms "Make Room for Daddy" and "Dennis the Menace". She also played the part of a ballet teacher, Madame Lamond, in the "I Love Lucy" episode "The Ballet" (1952). Wickes also served as the live-action reference model for Cruella De Vil in Walt Disney's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961), and played Mrs. Squires in the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" (1962).