Her most frequent characterizations were Italian, Jewish, Latin, or East European, and usually with a comic touch. Co-starring with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960) she gives advice on living as the wife of Dr. Dreyfus, Baxter's neighbor, who is commandeered by C.C. Baxter to revive a mistress, Fran Kubelik, of his married boss. The young woman has taken an overdose of sleeping pills to combat her feelings of rejection and futility. Ms. Stevens is the supportive "Jewish mother", intent on scolding Baxter (whom she thinks is the offender) while she shores up the flagging spirits of the victim.
