McLeod married Bill Gerds {January 30, 1947 – 1949) (divorced), who was then a dental student in San Francisco. They eloped to Reno on January 3, 1947. McLeod’s second husband was actor Don Keefer, 7 May 1950 until her death on 11 May 1997 having three children together.

McLeod’s greatest impact upon American consciousness by far, however, was as purveyor of one of the most ubiquitous catchphrases of its era when she portrayed the woman in the 1963 headache remedy Anacin television commercial, who plaintively but irritably said, “Mother, please! I’d rather do it myself!” The announcer’s voiceover would then intone, “Sure you have a headache… tense, irritable…. but don’t take it out on her.”