After the success of her first movie
40,000 Horsemen (1940) she toured the world visiting army camps and entertaining the troops. She was given the nickname "The Red Cross Queen" and her charity work continued for the rest of her life. She was a founder of the charity organisation Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP) in 1963 with her husband
Maurice Silverstein and their friend Father Stan Hosie, launched by supporters
Sophia Loren and
Peter Ustinov. The organisation was renamed Counterpart International in the early 1990s.