Daughter of conductor Riccardo Vitale and choreographer Natasha Shidlowski.
Her best known English-speaking film role was as the wife of Eddie Foy Sr. (Bob Hope) in 'The Seven Little Foys'.
In October 1960, she married Vincent Lee Hillyer, an American, whose wife by a previous marriage had been a princess of the Iranian Pahlevi dynasty. Hillyer had converted to Islam, and, as an honorary Iranian citizen, had close ties with the government in Teheran. In May 1961, Hillyer and Vitale sued the Pan American Petroleum Corporation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the tune of $30 million for allegedly reneging on an agreement to pay them an annuity of $25,000 and a 2 1/2 % share in net profits in exchange for Hillyer interceding with the Iranian government on an oil exploration contract.