While under contract to Warner Bros., Miles was cast alongside her future
husband Gordon Scott in the
1955 film Tarzan's Hidden Jungle as
Tarzan's love interest. The following year, she was cast by
director John Ford as Jeffrey Hunter's love interest in the John Wayne Western The Searchers (1956), and appeared in the movies Wichita, directed
by Jacques Tourneur and 23 Paces to Baker Street with Van Johnson. Also in 1956, Miles starred as Rose Balestrero,
the fragile wife of Manny Balestrero, a musician falsely accused of a crime and
played by Henry Fonda, in the
film The Wrong Man. The movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and
is one of only a few Hitchcock films based on real-life events. Signing a
five-year personal contract with Hitchcock in 1957, Miles was widely publicized
as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly. Two years prior, Hitchcock had directed Miles in
the role of Ralph Meeker's emotionally
troubled new bride in "Revenge", the pilot episode of his television
series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Vertigo (1958), a project Hitchcock designed as a
showcase for his new star, was met with production delays. Miles's subsequent
pregnancy would cost her the lead role which eventually went to Kim Novak with whom Hitchcock reportedly clashed,
although Ms. Novak has stated in interviews that she did not have trouble
working with Hitchcock on the film. Vertigo (which also
starred James Stewart) was not a
financial or critical success at the time, with Hitchcock claiming that Novak
was miscast. Despite Hitchcock's disappointment
regarding Vertigo, he continued to work with Miles, eventually
casting her in what is arguably the role for which she is most remembered, that
of Lila Crane in Psycho. In the film, she portrayed the determined
sister of the doomed motel guest Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who teams up with Marion's boyfriend and a
private investigator to find her. Miles later appeared in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in
1962 and 1965). In 1962, Miles reunited with director John Ford for the
film The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance. Starring alongside her former co-star from The
Searchers, John Wayne, she is pursued by both Wayne and James Stewart, two
very different men competing for her hand in marriage. In
addition to her film appearances, Miles was featured in many popular television
shows throughout her career, including Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Laramie, The Twilight Zone and
the western series Riverboat,
starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds. She also co-starred in the first episode of
ABC's The Fugitive (titled
"Fear in a Desert City"), as well as guest-starring in episodes
of The Outer Limits, Burke's Law, The Eleventh Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Ironside. In 1965,
Miles had a supporting role in three episodes of the CBS series My Three Sons. The same year, she co-starred with lead
actors Robert Culp and Bill Cosby in the pilot episode of the TV series I Spy entitled
"Affair in T'Sien Cha" (although the pilot was not actually broadcast
until midway through the series’ first season). Other notable films in which
Miles appeared included the Walt Disney film Follow Me, Boys! (1966) with Fred MacMurray, and Hellfighters (1968),
reuniting again with John Wayne. Miles had also filmed scenes with Wayne
for the movie The Green Berets (also
1968), playing Wayne's character's wife. However, with Warner Bros. wanting
more action in the film, her scenes were cut. Miles continued to appear in
numerous TV films and TV series during the 1970s, including the pilot for the
TV series Cannon (broadcast
in March 1971) as the wife of a deceased war comrade of private investigator
Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. She guest-starred in a further two episodes of
the series in different roles during its run. In 1973, she appeared
alongside Peter Falk in
"Lovely But Lethal", an episode of NBC's Columbo, playing a cosmetics queen who commits murder. She
also made guest appearances in episodes of Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San
Francisco, and Fantasy Island among others. In 1983, more than 20
years after Psycho, Miles reprised the role of Lila Crane in Psycho II, joining Anthony Perkins in the sequel. Miles and Perkins were the
only stars of the original film to appear in this second installment. Miles
continued to appear in a number of TV and film productions during the 1980s,
with appearances in the movies The Initiation (1984)
and Into the Night (1985),
and guest-starring in episodes of the TV series The Love Boat (1982 and 1984) and Hotel (1984 and
1987). She also appeared alongside Angela Lansbury in the TV series Murder, She Wrote, guest-starring in three episodes
broadcast in 1985, 1990, and 1991. The 1991 episode, titled "Thursday's
Child", was her final television role. Miles acted just once more,
appearing alongside James Belushi in the
film Separate Lives (1995),
before retiring from the industry.