Beth Howland
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth "Beth" Howland (born May 28, 1941), is an American
actress who has worked extensively on stage and television. Howland is best known for playing Vera
on the sitcom
Alice
, inspired by the popular Martin Scorsese
film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
. She also originated the role of Amy in the original Broadway
cast of Stephen Sondheim
's Company
, in which she introduced the challenging, fast-paced patter song
"Getting Married Today."
born to Catholic parents. She attended a Catholic school as a young girl and became interested in acting and dancing with encouragement from one of the nuns. At the age of 16, she left home and followed a dancer friend to New York City.
From November 6, 1961 to 1969, she was married to character actor Michael J. Pollard
, with whom she has a daughter named Holly. She is currently married to actor Charles Kimbrough
, an actor of Broadway and Murphy Brown
fame. Kimbrough and Howland appeared together in Company.
musical Once Upon a Mattress
. She went on to have roles in the musicals Bye Bye Birdie, High Spirits
, Drat! The Cat!
, and Darling of the Day
.
She can be seen dancing and singing in the chorus of Li'l Abner (1959) as a Dogpatch wife, alongside future television star Valerie Harper
. She is especially visible in the number "Put 'Em Back the Way They Was".
After appearing in Company, Howland left the New York stage to relocate to the West Coast
, where she gave guest appearances on television series such as Love, American Style
, Cannon
, The Rookies, Bronk, Mary Tyler Moore
, Little House on the Prairie
, Fantasy Island
, and others. For her work on Alice, Howland received four Golden Globe nominations.
While she was on Alice, she made regular guest appearances on several series, including Eight Is Enough
and The Love Boat
. She also took on numerous telefilm roles, including You Can't Take It with You (as Essie), Working (singing, "Just a Housewife") and A Caribbean Mystery.
She remained on Alice throughout its nine seasons. After the show ended in 1985, Howland went into semi-retirement. She made occasional guest appearances (including Murder, She Wrote
, Chicken Soup for the Soul
, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
, and The Tick
) and starred in the telefilm Terrible Things My Mother Told Me.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress who has worked extensively on stage and television. Howland is best known for playing Vera
Vera Louise Gorman-Novak
Vera Novak was a fictional character in the long-running television series Alice. She was played by actress Beth Howland.-The "Dingy":Vera was the only original waitress besides Alice who lasted all of the show's run...
on the sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Alice
Alice (TV series)
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series was based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job...
, inspired by the popular Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell. It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the American Southwest in search of a better life, along with Alfred Lutter as her son and Kris...
. She also originated the role of Amy in the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
cast of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Company
Company (musical)
Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six....
, in which she introduced the challenging, fast-paced patter song
Patter song
The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note...
"Getting Married Today."
Personal life
Howland is an only childOnly child
An only child is a person with no siblings, either biological or adopted. In a family with multiple offspring, first-borns, may be briefly considered only children and have a similar early family environment, but the term only child is generally applied only to those individuals who never have...
born to Catholic parents. She attended a Catholic school as a young girl and became interested in acting and dancing with encouragement from one of the nuns. At the age of 16, she left home and followed a dancer friend to New York City.
From November 6, 1961 to 1969, she was married to character actor Michael J. Pollard
Michael J. Pollard
- Early life :Born Michael John Pollack, Jr. in Passaic, New Jersey, he is the son of Sonia and Michael John Pollack. He attended the Montclair Academy and the Actors Studio.- Career :...
, with whom she has a daughter named Holly. She is currently married to actor Charles Kimbrough
Charles Kimbrough
Charles Kimbrough is an American character actor known for playing the straight-faced anchorman Jim Dial on Murphy Brown. In 1990, his performance in the role earned him a nomination for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series".-Biography:Born in St. Paul, Minnesota,...
, an actor of Broadway and Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
fame. Kimbrough and Howland appeared together in Company.
Career
After a time of struggling, Howland made her Broadway debut in 1959 as Lady Beth in the Carol BurnettCarol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
musical Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
. She went on to have roles in the musicals Bye Bye Birdie, High Spirits
High Spirits (musical)
High Spirits is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, about a man's problems caused by the spirit of his dead wife....
, Drat! The Cat!
Drat! The Cat!
Drat! The Cat! is a musical with a book and lyrics by Ira Levin and music by Milton Schafer.Originally called Cat and Mouse, this spoof of late-Victorian melodrama has at its core Alice Van Guilder, who wants to be a career girl at a time when nice young ladies marry well instead of having careers...
, and Darling of the Day
Darling of the Day (musical)
Darling of the Day is a musical with a book by Nunnally Johnson, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and music by Jule Styne. It is based on Arnold Bennett's novel Buried Alive and his play The Great Adventure...
.
She can be seen dancing and singing in the chorus of Li'l Abner (1959) as a Dogpatch wife, alongside future television star Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...
. She is especially visible in the number "Put 'Em Back the Way They Was".
After appearing in Company, Howland left the New York stage to relocate to the West Coast
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where she gave guest appearances on television series such as Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
, Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
, The Rookies, Bronk, Mary Tyler Moore
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, and others. For her work on Alice, Howland received four Golden Globe nominations.
While she was on Alice, she made regular guest appearances on several series, including Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...
and The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
. She also took on numerous telefilm roles, including You Can't Take It with You (as Essie), Working (singing, "Just a Housewife") and A Caribbean Mystery.
She remained on Alice throughout its nine seasons. After the show ended in 1985, Howland went into semi-retirement. She made occasional guest appearances (including Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
, Chicken Soup for the Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short and dense inspirational stories and motivational essays. The 101 stories in the first book of the series were compiled by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.There have been over 200 titles...
, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is an American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series of the same name.The show stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, a teenager with magical powers, who lives with her aunts Hilda and Zelda , and their magical talking cat Salem...
, and The Tick
The Tick
The Tick is a fictional character created by cartoonist Ben Edlund in 1986 as a newsletter mascot for the New England Comics chain of Boston area comic stores. He is an absurdist spoof of comic book superheroes. After its creation, the character spun off into an independent comic book series in...
) and starred in the telefilm Terrible Things My Mother Told Me.