Rawls was born in Macon, Georgia, and lived with her grandmother and two aunts for most of her early life. She made her stage debut at age four in a local production of Madame Butterfly, and later, attended Wesleyan College in Macon. She moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut in 1934 as Peggy Rogers in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. Her best-known role came in 1939 as Tallulah Bankhead's character Regina Gidden's daughter, Alexandra, in The Little Foxes.…
