 She sang in vaudeville as a child.She attended Ursuline Convent in Great Falls, Montana.In 1929, Luddy toured with Leo Carrillo in Australia as part of a touring company that presented the play "Lombardi, Ltd." A review in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Luddy's work portraying a mannequin as "a role in which Miss Barbara Luddy made a great hit by her pert audacity and vivaciousness."