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Beverly Garland

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Beverly Garland
Garland in 1969
Born
Beverly Lucy Fessenden

(1926-10-17)October 17, 1926
Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
DiedDecember 5, 2008(2008-12-05) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other namesBeverly Campbell
OccupationActress
Years active1949–2005
Spouses
  • Bob Campbell
    (m. 1945; divorced)
​
​
(m. 1951; div. 1953)​
Filmore Crank
​
​
(m. 1960; died 1999)​
Children2

Beverly Lucy Garland (née Fessenden; October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008) was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action and science-fiction movies; however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular television series.

In 1957–1958, she starred in the TV crime-drama Decoy, which ran for 39 episodes, but she may be best remembered as Barbara Harper Douglas, the woman who married widower Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) in the latter years of the sitcom My Three Sons.[1]: 736  She played in that role from 1969 until the series concluded in 1972. In the 1980s, she co-starred as Dotty West, the mother of Kate Jackson's character, in the CBS television series Scarecrow and Mrs. King.[1]: 933  She had a recurring role as Ginger Jackson on 7th Heaven.[1]: 950 .

Early life and career

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Garland in 1945 aged 19
Morgan Jones and Garland in Not of This Earth (1957)
Garland in an episode of Decoy (1958).

Beverly Lucy Fessenden was born on October 17, 1926, in Santa Cruz, California, the daughter of Amelia Rose (née Scherer), a businesswoman, and James Atkins Fessenden, a singer and salesman.[citation needed] Garland grew up in Glendale, California. She was a drama student of Anita Arliss.[2] The family subsequently moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she graduated from North High School.[3] She was a student at Glendale City College, and she honed her acting skills in summer stock theatre.[4]

Garland played Nina in the drama Mama Rosa in 1950.[1]: 648  In the 1950s, many of her roles were of secure, tough women who could handle themselves in violent situations. One such role was as a secrets-keeping secretary in D.O.A..[5] In 1956, she played a female marshal in the Western Gunslinger with Chris Alcaide as her deputy; a prison escapee in Swamp Diamonds; and a scientist's wife who battles an alien in It Conquered the World. All three films were directed by Roger Corman, and all were parodied in the 1990s by Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Television success

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From 1957 to 1958, Garland starred as undercover police officer Casey Jones in the television series Decoy,[6] the first American television police series with a woman in the starring role.[2] It lasted for a single season of 39 episodes.[6]

Garland guest-starred in 1956 as Nelli Austin, a rodeo sharpshooter, in the episode "Rodeo Rough House" of Rod Cameron's syndicated drama series State Trooper. Claude Akins appeared in this episode as the murderous rodeo clown. Garland and Akins appeared together again in the 1960 episode "Prison Trail" of the TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive and again in the 1963 episode "The Chooser of the Slain" of The Dakotas. Garland and Akins also appeared in The Zane Grey Theatre episodes "Courage is a Gun" and "Jericho".

In 1955, Garland was cast in the episode "Man Down, Woman Screaming" of Rod Cameron's first syndicated series, City Detective. On September 5, 1955, she co-starred in an episode of Science Fiction Theatre called "The Negative Man". Around the same time, she appeared in the first Brian Keith series, Crusader. In 1959, Garland was cast as the wife of a bounty hunter in Season 2, Episode 2 of Rawhide "Incident of the Roman Candles". The same year, she had a two guest appearances in the CBS post-Civil War adventure series Yancy Derringer, appearing as the character Coco the pirate, one of Yancy's many female friends. She appeared twice in 1960 as Doris Denny Bona in the episodes "Remember the Alamo" and "The Widow of Kill Cove" of Cameron's third syndicated series, Coronado 9. In 1960, Garland was cast as Dr. Nora James in the episode "Three Graves" of Riverboat.

Garland also appeared in 1960 in episode 28, "Saddles and Spurs", of the first season of the Western show Laramie.

Beverly Garland, Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey in the first episode of Dr. Kildare (1961)

In 1962–1963, Garland was a regular on the CBS version of Stump the Stars.[1]: 1031 

In 1963, she starred as “Leah”, a bar girl in the Long Branch who loses her fiancée then is revived in life in the Gunsmoke episode “The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner” (S8E36).

She appeared in a season-one episode, "Smoke Screen", of The Fugitive. In the 1964–1965 television season, she co-starred as Ellie Collins on The Bing Crosby Show.[1] She appeared in the 1968 feature film Pretty Poison, but is best known for playing suburban mothers on My Three Sons and Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

In 1974, Garland went under the ape makeup for an episode of the Planet of the Apes television series. The episode was called "The Interrogation" and she played a rather cunning chimpanzee who tries, through brainwashing, to get answers from the captured Pete Burke.

In the 1980s, she co-starred as Dotty West, the mother of Kate Jackson's character for the entire four-season run of the CBS television series Scarecrow and Mrs. King.[1]: 933  She also featured in two episodes of Remington Steele as the mother of Laura Holt (played by series star Stephanie Zimbalist)[1] in the early 1980s and in six episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as the mother of Lois Lane in the mid-1990s. Her decades of television guest appearances included episodes of Twilight Zone, Kung Fu, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

On 7th Heaven, she appeared in nine episodes as Ginger Jackson, the stepmother of Annie Camden, opposite Graham Jarvis. In addition to working with Peter Graves on 7th Heaven, Garland also starred opposite Graves's brother, James Arness, in four episodes of Gunsmoke. On radio, she was an original player of the California Actors Radio Theatre, which often recorded its programs on the grounds of Garland's hotel in the Beverly Garland Little Theater, which was decorated with large movie posters from many of her feature films.

Recognition

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Garland was nominated for a Best Actress in a Single Performance Emmy Award for her work on Medic (1955).[7] For her contribution to the television industry, Garland has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard. It was dedicated on January 26, 1983.[8]

Personal life

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Garland married actor Richard Garland in 1951. Although they divorced two years later, she continued to use his last name professionally.[5]

In 1999, her husband of 39 years, businessman Filmore Crank, died.[9] They had two children together, and two from Crank's previous marriage.[10]

Subsequently, Garland combined her acting career with an increased devotion to the hotel that Crank built and named for her. Originally built as a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge in the 1970s,[11] it became a 255-room Spanish Mission-style resort called Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn, and was renamed The Garland in 2014.[12]

Variety, on December 7, 2008, wrote that she was the honorary mayor of North Hollywood and that she served on the boards of the California Tourism Corporation as well as the Greater Los Angeles Visitors' and Convention Bureau.[citation needed]

Death

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On December 5, 2008, Garland died from natural causes at her home of over 40 years in the Hollywood Hills after a lengthy illness.[9]

Several hundred people attended a memorial service and reception on December 13 at her namesake hotel property. Her body was cremated.[2]

Selected filmography

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Year Title Role Other notes
1949 D.O.A. Miss Foster Credited as Beverly Campbell
1950 The Lone Ranger Laura Lawson TV, 1 episode
1951 Strictly Dishonorable Armorclad Mentoring Isabelle in opera Caesar Uncredited
1953 The Neanderthal Man Nola Mason, waitress
Problem Girls Nancy Eaton
1954 The Miami Story Holly Abbott
The Desperado Laurie Bannerman
Killer Leopard Linda Winters
Medic Estelle Collins TV, 1 episode, nominated for Best Actress in a Single Performance Emmy Award
1954–1956 Four Star Playhouse Various roles TV, 4 episodes
1955 Swamp Women Vera
Navy Log Sally TV, 1 episode
Science Fiction Theater Sally Torens TV, 1 episode, "The Negative Man"
New Orleans Uncensored Mary Reilly
Sudden Danger Phyllis Baxter
1955–1959 The Millionaire Louise Benson/Clara TV, 2 episodes
1956 Gunslinger Marshal Rose Hood
It Conquered the World Claire Anderson
The Go-Getter Peggy
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon Dr. Andrea Romar
The Ford Television Theatre Maria Perrin TV, 1 episode
1956–1957 Wire Service Ellen Gale TV, 2 episodes
1957 Not of This Earth Nurse Nadine Storey
Playhouse 90 Gay Sherman TV, 1 episode
The Joker Is Wild Cassie Mack
Naked Paradise Max MacKenzie
1957–1959 Decoy Casey Jones TV, 39 episodes
1958 The Saga of Hemp Brown Mona Langley
1959 Trackdown Dora Crow TV, 1 episode, "Hard Lines"
Yancy Derringer Coco LaSalle TV, 2 episodes
The Alligator People Joyce Webster, aka Jane Marvin
Hawaiian Eye Rena Harrison TV, 1 episode
The Man from Blackhawk Sarah Marshall 1 episode, "Logan's Policy", series premiere
1959–1963 Rawhide Jennie Colby
Marcie
Della Locke 		TV, 3 episodes
1959–1967 The Wonderful World of Disney Mrs. Barko TV, 6 episodes
1960 Tales of Wells Fargo Pearl Hart TV, 1 episode
Wanted: Dead or Alive Sally Lind TV, 1 episode
Hong Kong Irene Vance TV, 1 episode
Thriller Ruth Kenton TV, 1 episode
Stagecoach West Sherry Hilton TV, 1 episode
Perry Mason Mauvis Meade TV, 1 episode "The Mythical Monkey"
Coronado 9 TV, 1 episode "The Widow of Kill Cove"
The Twilight Zone Maggie TV, 1 episode "The Four of Us Are Dying"
1961 Checkmate Jean TV, 1 episode
The Asphalt Jungle Caroline TV, 1 episode
Danger Man Jo Harris TV, 1 episode
1961–1962 Dr. Kildare Ann/Cynthia TV, 2 episodes
1962 Bus Stop Janie "Summer Lightning"
Cain's Hundred Jeanette "The Left Side of Canada"
Going My Way Marsha "A Saint for Momma"
The Nurses Ginny Nemets TV, 1 episode
Stark Fear Ellen Winslow
1963 The Dakotas Katherine Channing TV, 1 episode
Sam Benedict Jan Fielding "Image of a Toad"
Twice-Told Tales Alice Pyncheon "House of the Seven Gables" (one of three stories in the film)
The Fugitive Nurse Doris Stillwell TV, 1 episode
The Farmer's Daughter TV, 1 episode
1963–1970 Gunsmoke Various roles TV, 4 episodes
1964 Kraft Suspense Theatre JoAnne Kling TV, 1 episode
1965 A Man Called Shenandoah Kate TV, 1 episode
Laredo Aggie TV, 1 episode
1966 Pistols 'n' Petticoats Ross Guttley TV, 1 episode
1967 Judd, for the Defense Dorothy Shaw TV, 1 episode
1967–1969 The Wild Wild West Celia Rydell/Sally Yarnell TV, 2 episodes
1968 The Mothers-in-Law Audrey Fleming TV, 1 episode
Pretty Poison Mrs. Stepanek
1968–1973 Mannix Edna Restin TV, 3 episodes
1969 Here's Lucy Secretary TV, 1 episode (uncredited)
The Mad Room Mrs. Racine
1969–1972 My Three Sons Barbara Harper Douglas TV, 74 episodes
1970 Then Came Bronson Beth Morse TV, 1 episode
1972 The Mod Squad TV, 1 episode
Temperatures Rising Claudia TV, 1 episode
1972–1975 Marcus Welby, M.D. Nancy Zimmer TV, 2 episodes
1973 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Mrs. Varni TV, 1 episode
The Rookies Pat Whitfield TV, 1 episode
Cannon Cecilia Thatcher TV, 1 episode
The New Adventures of Perry Mason Laura Lee Baxter TV, 1 episode
Love, American Style Maria Lombardi TV, 1 episode
1974 Where the Red Fern Grows Mother
Airport 1975 Mrs. Scott Freeman
Ironside Andrea Reynolds TV, 1 episode
1974–1975 Medical Center Kay/Madeline Stockwood TV, 2 episodes
1975 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Veronica Ludlow TV, 1 episode
1976–1977 Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Cookie LaRue TV, 16 episodes
1977 The Six Million Dollar Man The Secretary TV, 1 episode
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Thelma TV, 1 episode
Lanigan's Rabbi TV, 1 episode
The Tony Randall Show Sylvia Needleman TV, 1 episode
Sixth and Main Monica Cord
1979 How the West Was Won Hanna TV, 1 episode
Charlie's Angels Pat Justice TV, 1 episode
Roller Boogie Lillian Barkley
1980 Trapper John, M.D. Mrs. Kaufman TV, 2 episodes
It's My Turn Emma Lewin Gunzinger
1981 Hart to Hart Real Grandma TV, 1 episode
Flamingo Road TV, 1 episode
Magnum, P.I. Florence Russell TV, 1 episode
Matt Houston Mrs. Chapman TV, 1 episode
1982–1983 Remington Steele Abigail Holt TV, 2 episodes
1983–1987 Scarecrow and Mrs. King Dorothea "Dotty" West TV, 88 episodes
1985 Hotel Alice Korman TV, 1 episode
Finder of Lost Loves Lucy Rowens TV, 1 episode
1990 The World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid Brenda's Mother
1991 P.S. I Luv U Emma TV, 1 episode
1995 Friends Aunt Iris TV, 1 episode, "The One with All the Poker"
Ellen Eva TV, 1 episode
1995–1997 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Ellen Lane TV, 6 episodes
1997 Diagnosis: Murder Stella TV, 1 episode
1997–2004 7th Heaven Ginger TV, 9 episodes
1998 Teen Angel Grandma TV, 2 episodes
1998–1999 The Angry Beavers High Princess
Unseen Foe 		"The Mighty Knothead"
"Practical Jerks"
2000–2001 Port Charles Estelle Reese
2002 Weakest Link Herself (contestant) TV Moms Edition (1st one voted off)
2003 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure Aunt Jessica Television film

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 107–108. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  2. ^ a b c Bergan, Ronald (December 15, 2008). "Beverly Garland: Spirited heroine of 1950s B-movies and schlock horror films". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  3. ^ "Hoofbeats "Beverly Fessenden" (North High School, Phoenix, Arizona)". Ancestry.com. Generations Network. 1945. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  4. ^ Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. pp. 57–64. ISBN 978-1476607962. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Lentz, Harris M. III (2009). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2008: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 150. ISBN 978-0786453849. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Erickson, Hal (1989). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 39. ISBN 0-7864-1198-8.
  7. ^ "Awards Search". Emmys. Television Academy. Archived from the original on May 14, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  8. ^ "Beverly Garland". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on May 14, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  9. ^ a b McLellan, Dennis. "Beverly Garland, versatile actress in film and TV, dies at 82", Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2008.
  10. ^ Madden, Donald (December 8, 1969). "Beverly Garland's Husband Is A Putterer Par Excellence". The Daily Times-News. Burlington, North Carolina. p. 25. Retrieved July 31, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn, highwayhost.org; accessed July 31, 2015.
  12. ^ Jordan, Karen (March 9, 2015). "Unveiling on Vineland". Ventura BLVD. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
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