She made her London stage debut in February 1937 and appeared in over a hundred British films in supporting roles, mostly comedy character parts such as slightly eccentric mothers, grannies, landladies and servants. Among many stage appearances, she played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1975, directed by Jonathan Miller.

On television, she appeared as a guest in a number of comedy series, notably as a regular in the 1958 series Educating Archie and as Cockney widow Ada Cresswell in For the Love of Ada, which would later be adapted for the cinema. She would also appear in Maggie and Her (1978) opposite Julia McKenzie. In the early 1980s, she played Gran in the ITV children’s comedy show Metal Mickey. She appeared in a rare aristocratic role as the Duchess of Sheffield in Mapp and Lucia and as another aristocratic character in Eric Sykes’s 1982 television film It’s Your Move where her chauffeur was played by Brian Murphy. She also appeared as Madame de Bonneuil in the BBC’s film of Hotel du Lac in 1986.

Handl died at her flat in Kensington, London on 29 November 1987, from metastasised breast cancer.. She was unmarried. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.

Her last appearance was in the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health in 1987, just before her death at the age of 85.