Hayes' films included "The Glass Key", "Sullivan's Travels", and "Good Day for a Hanging". In 1958, in the film "Damn Citizen", Hayes appeared opposite Keith Andes in the role of a real person, Dorothy Maguire Grevemberg, the wife of the crusading Louisiana State Police superintendent Francis Grevemberg. She made four guest appearances on CBS's "Perry Mason", including as defendant Sybil Granger in 1957 episode "The Case of the Nervous Accomplice". In 1961, she portrayed Mrs. North in the episode "Incident of the Night on the Town" on CBS"s "Rawhide". In the same year, she also guest-starred in an episode of "Bonanza", "The Countess", as Lady Linda Chadwick.