Kathleen Innes Stewart was born 9 April 1908 in London, England as the oldest child of George and Louise Stewart. Her father soon moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he headed at the H.K Cushing Laboratory for Experimental Medicine at Western Reserve University. In 1922, the family – now including Kathleen and her three younger brothers – moved to Toronto, where Kathleen attended Havergal College. She later attended University College at the University of Toronto, and graduated in 1928 before leaving on an eleven month trip through Europe with her close friend, Kathleen Sutton. George Stewart died in 1930, and Louise Stewart died in 1933, leaving Kathleen to care for her younger brothers. Kathleen Stewart married James Fitz-Randolph Crowe in 1935, and they travelled across the United States and Canada performing in theatres together under the stage names Kathleen and Norman Roland; including the opening season of the Stratford Festival. Kathleen wrote cookbooks for additional income and worked for the Canadian National Film Board during the Second World War. She worked on the stage until the 1960s, whereupon she became a social worker in New York City. She died in New York in 2003 at the age of 95.