Born and raised in London, the petite, brunette did not have any intention of being an actress, intending instead to pursue a career as a musician. It was only at the urging of her father that she attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Following her graduation, Tutin made her stage debut in 1949 and the following year joined the Bristol Old Vic Company. She segued to films in 1952 essaying the schoolgirl Cecily Cardew in the film version of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and the following year co-starred with Laurence Olivier in "The Beggar's Opera", directed by Peter Brook. Yet, she was not terribly enamored of movie work, preferring the stage. Still in her early 20s, Tutin scored a theatrical success as the tragic heroine of "The Living Room" which made her an overnight sensation. Eschewing the trappings of fame, however, the actress bought an old boat which she moored in Chelsea and used as her home base until her 1963 marriage to fellow actor Derek Waring.

In 1954, Tutin enjoyed another stage hit with her turn as Sally Bowles in the play "I Am a Camera". She once again acted alongside Olivier in the premiere of John Osbourne's "The Entertainer" (1957) and returned to the screen alongside Dirk Bogarde in "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958). As the 50s came to a close, the actress joined the acting company at Stratford-upon-Avon (the precursor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Tutin quickly became the company's leading lady, essaying several of the Bard's major female roles (Viola, Portia, Juliet, Ophelia, etc.), enjoying a particular success as Rosalind in "As You Like It" in the late 60s.

In 1972, Tutin had her best screen role as Sophie Brzeska (termed by Pauline Kael as "a brilliant shrew--comic, high-powered, and erotically nasty"). As the older would-be author who encourages and loves the young sculptor Henri Gaudier (Scott Anthony), the actress delivered a bravura turn. While there was the inevitable talk of an Oscar nomination for her work, the resulting nomination did not materialize. (One can't but think the very private actress might have disdained the attention anyway.) Instead, there were more theater triumphs like "Peter Pan" (1971 and 1972), "A Month in the Country" (1974-75), Cleopatra and Madame Ranevskya to name but a few. In the mid-80s, Tutin excelled as Goneril to Olivier's "King Lear" in a TV adaptation and she graced movie screens as the hostess of the titular "The Shooting Party" (both 1984). Although her last film role was as the dotty ballet company director in "Alive & Kicking/Indian Summer" (1996) and one of her last TV appearances was in the prophetically named British telefilm "This Could Be the Last Time" (1998). Tutin and Joss Ackland headlined a 1999 revival of "The Gin Game" and she acted opposite her husband Derek Waring, daughter Amanda Waring and son-in-law Robert Daws in the Chichester Festival production "20th Century Review". (Her son Nicholas Waring is also an actor). She was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire some eighteen months before her untimely death from leukemia in August 2001.