Carolyn was born in Paris, Texas, the daughter of James and Marian Garvin. She was graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1958. After a career in medical administration, she began working professionally as an actor in 1988, first mainly in commercials and industrials. Her first film role was as Hal Holbrook's wife in Tim Blake Nelson's Eye of God (1997). After the death of Marty Wickwire, her second husband, in 2000, she began concentrating on stage roles, building a successful theater career in Dallas, TX. She has continued to work in film and TV, with a recurring role as Bellick's Mom in Prison Break and appearances in Better Call Saul and Longmire. She has co-produced a touring stage production of Lucinda McDermott's O'Keeffe!, starring as Georgia O'Keeffe. In 2013 she married Dennis West, an actor and playwright, whom she met performing in regional theater in Tennessee. She moved to New Mexico in 2015 to further her work in film and television.