And The Name Is Beverly Garland!

You might know her now from her appearances on "7th Heaven" or "Port Charles" or maybe you've stayed at her hotel in North Hollywood...

.... or maybe you remember her from countless mother parts including Laura Holt's on "Remington Steele", Lois Lane's on "Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman", and, of course, Mrs. King's on "Scarecrow and Mrs. King"...
... but I'm not sure if you remember that she was also known as the best screamer in Hollywood for her horror film appearances in the fifties, like "Not Of This Earth".

One thing you can say about Garland- she's a survivor. Like a lot of the actors on this site, there has never been a time in her career when she has not worked. Unless it was to run her hotel, which I had the pleasure of going to while researching my character actor project. Which you can read about here, here, here, and here. The Beverly Garland Holiday Inn is where the "Stars Of The Twilight Zone" convention was held in 2002 and Garland was one of the stars we met the day we went.

And despite turning down my wife's perfectly reasonable sales pitch to carry "Seattle's Best Coffee" or "Starbucks" in her hotel*, she was still very nice and was slightly (politely is a better word) interested in our little documentary idea. Truth to tell, in approaching the actors with what little we had prepared, I'm still a little stunned that we weren't shot down more often.

Here's what Garland's website says about her amazing career...

Beverly Garland has combined the raising of four children with starring in 41 feature films and nearly 700 television programs to establish a list of entertainment industry credits perhaps unmatched for its combination of diversity and volume.

She has played opposite many of Hollywood’s most popular leading men-from Charles Boyer and David Niven to Clint Eastwood and Frank Sinatra.

Ms. Garland’s film debut was in a supporting role in the 1950 classic film noir, “D.O.A,” starring Edmond O’Brien. Her television career began in the same year with appearances in a variety of dramas which led to starring roles in the most celebrated live dramas of fifties, “Playhouse 90” and “Lux Video Theater.”

She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1954 for her role, co-starring with Lee Marvin, as a leukemia-stricken mother in “Medic.”

In 1957, she made television history, becoming both the first actress to star in the title role of a dramatic series and becoming television’s first policewoman when she played NYPD officer Casey Jones in “Decoy.”

She has been a regular in eight TV series, including co-starring as Bing Crosby’s wife in his series, Fred MacMurray’s wife in the long-running “My Three Sons,” and Kate Jackson’s Mother in “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.”

Her feature films range from dramatic hits such as “The Joker is Wild,” with Frank Sinatra and “Desperate Hours,: with Humphrey Bogart, to sci-fi favorites “It Conquered the World,” with Peter Graves, and “The Alligator People” with Lon Chaney Jr. to classic westerns “Gunslinger” with John Ireland and “Where the Red Fern Grow,” with James Witmore.

In 1983, Beverly was awarded her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2001 she was inducted into the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Hall of Fame. To mark her 50 years in show business, the City of Los Angeles proclaimed January 19, 2001 “Beverly Garland Day in Los Angeles.”

In 1999 her husband of 39 years died, and since then she has combined her acting career with an increased devotion to the hotel he built and named after her, the 255-room resort style Beverly Garland Holiday Inn and Conference Center in North Hollywood, California.

One of the things I love about her mother roles is how much bite she puts into them. There's always a little edge to her visits with Laura Holt, Lois Lane or Mrs. King, usually along the lines of "get married/settle down" variety. Which (not to get too doctoral-thesis-y here, but what the heck) is ironic given how much of a survivor in Hollywood she herself was. And maybe that's what the edge is these particular parts.

One of her best parts was as Tuesday Weld's mom in the amazing "Pretty Poison". Garland brings so much to the part that...

spoiler alert

...you hate to see her go.

end spoiler alert

Beverly Garland is one of the great ladies of character acting, if only for bringing some much-needed attitude to the typical wife/mother parts.

But she should've changed her hotel's coffee.

*referred to in our family as "The Incident".