Meade was born in Boston on December 17, 1925; her father sold typewriters and her mother was Carolyn Meade, who was "the leading lady with Walter Hampden from 1923 to 1933."

She moved with her family to Ridgewood, New Jersey when she was 10 years old and later graduated from the Yale School of Drama. Meade went to New York City and was hired as a model in 1948.

Meade came to public attention in 1953 as the public face of the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company. She did live commercials on The Ed Sullivan Show for such products as Kodak cameras and Life magazine for years, earning recognition from TV Guide as the "favorite salesgirl" of the program's host. Meade told Life magazine in 1960 that "I tackle commercials as though I were playing the queen in Hamlet". Meade's pitch work involved doing live commercials that ran for up to five minutes, becoming most closely associated with her promotions of Lincoln automobiles, with her work for the car company described by Gerald Nachman as "part auto dealer, part chic sexpot".

Meade's work on Broadway included the 1954 production of The Tender Trap, Mary, Mary in 1962 and The Front Page in 1969. She also appeared in Roman Candle and Double in Hearts. After playing the lead in Mary, Mary for six weeks on Broadway, she went with the play's national company and acted the role for a year in Chicago, Illinois.

Meade appeared on film in the 1959 movie Pillow Talk, 1961's Tammy Tell Me True and in Presumed Innocent in 1990.

Mead won the 1962-1963 Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Mary, Mary.

In 1969, Meade was a member of the cast of The Front Page that was featured on a record album produced by the Theatre Guild for mail-order distribution.

Meade died at the age of 90 on May 16, 2016, in her home in Manhattan. She was married to Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr., a commercial Illustrator, from 1952 until his death in 1999. They had two daughters.