Brenda had always wanted to be a performer and took dance lessons at an early age. Her mother paid for these lessons by taking jobs cleaning and sewing.
Committed suicide after the death of her only child, which completely devastated her.
She had one child with then-husband Bill Bixby, named Christopher, born in 1974. In 1981, shortly after her breakup with Bixby, she and actor Don Edmonds took Christopher on a winter vacation to Mammoth Lakes, California, when Christopher developed a sudden, severe illness. The child was rushed to the hospital, where hospital personnel attempted to treat him. When doctors tried to insert a breathing tube down his throat, he suddenly went into cardiac arrest and died a short time later.
She played bouffant-brunette beauties for most of her 'nice girl' career, but is best known for her portrayal of villainess Lee Dumonde on the daytime soap, "Days of Our Lives" (1965). She was on the show for three years until her suicide.
Spoke French, Italian and Greek.