With her mother and daughter, she arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1920s and began playing variations on the roles she would spend her career on. She became friends with John Ford while making "Hangman's House" in 1928 and made seven more films with him. In 1939, she took on her best-remembered role as Sherlock Holmes' landlady, Mrs. Hudson, and played the role in ten films and numerous radio plays. She was a charter member of the Hollywood Canteen, entertaining servicemen throughout the Second World War. On the radio show "Those We Love", she played the regular role of Mrs. Emmett.