Margaret Elizabeth Sheridan was born on October 29, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, and she grew up to become an American actress best known for her role in the 1951 science fiction classic The Thing from Another World.

She was discovered by director Howard Hawks while she was still in college, and he believed she was the most promising actress of her era. Sheridan initially turned down a role in the 1948 film "Red River" because she was expecting her first child, a decision that she later regretted.

Sheridan married William F. Pattison, a professional airline pilot, in 1947, but the couple divorced in 1952. She then married Paul Wellington Wildman in 1953, and they had two children together. Despite her early promise, her career did not flourish as Hawks had hoped, and she retired from acting in the mid-1950s.

In her later years, Sheridan worked as a part-time real estate agent in San Francisco and was heavily involved in fundraising for charities. She passed away on May 1, 1982, in Orange, California, from lung cancer at the age of 55.