Chicago-born former salesgirl Nella Walker started in show business as a vaudeville performer with her husband Wilbur Mack, notably in "Little Bits of Everyday Life". She made her film debut in 1929 and was quickly typecast as frilly-laced and snobbish upper-crust society matrons. Although she usually played Margaret Dumont-type characters, she was also, on occasion, reduced to becoming the foil to slapstick comedy acts, such as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. She remained an extremely busy supporting actress until her final role as Humphrey Bogart's and William Holden's mother in Sabrina (1954).
Was once a part of a husband-and-wife vaudeville team with Wilbur Mack billed as "Mack & Walker."