Pulver began her career, after leaving trade school, as a model, and then studied acting. She made her film debut in 1949, in the American comedy Swiss Tour (starring Cornel Wilde). The buxom Pulver want on to become a frequent presence in German and French films, including The Confessions of Felix Krull and The Adventures of Arsene Lupin. She also co-starred in two 1960s American comedies, Billy Wilder's frenetic satire One, Two, Three (as gum-chewing secretary Fräulein Ingeborg) and the Bob Hope comedy Global Affair (as Sonya, netting a Golden Globe nomination).