Beth Howland

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Elizabeth "Beth" Howland (born May 28, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actress who has worked extensively on stage and television.

Howland is best known for two of her major projects: playing Vera Louise Gorman-Novak on the TV show Alice, inspired by the popular Martin Scorsese film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; and originating the role of Amy in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim's Company, in which she introduced the challenging, fast-paced song "Getting Married Today."

Howland made her Broadway debut in 1959 as Lady Beth in the Carol Burnett musical 'Once Upon a Mattress'. She went on to have roles in the musicals 'Bye Bye Birdie', 'High Spirits', 'Drat! The Cat!', and 'Darling the Day'.

During her Broadway years, she also appeared in Salem commercials.

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, 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, Working 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.

From 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.