Born in Hartford, Connecticut to immigrant parents from what was then Imperial or Tsarist Russia, Filip Dovgolenko (later known as Philip Dowholonok) and Stefanida Shlonskaya, she was initially known professionally as Maria Karniloff, and later as Maria Karnilova. She died in 2001, aged 80, from causes which have never been disclosed, survived by her husband,
George S. Irving, and their children.