Dead Mildred Joanne Smith, who portrayed Sidney Poitier’s wife in his film debut, the 1950 drama No Way Out, and then saw her career upended when she was severely injured in a plane crash, has died. She was 94.

Smith, who after her lone movie appearance became a magazine editor and a popular English teacher for a junior high school, died July 19, her family announced.

In the 1940s, Smith starred in such Broadway productions as Men to the Sea, Mamba’s Daughters, Beggar’s Holiday (as the love interest of Alfred Drake), Forward the Heart and A Long Way From Home. All were short-lived, but she received great reviews.