MSTied Movies
It Conquered the World
Swamp Diamonds
Gunslinger
Biography
Sometimes Credited As Beverly Campbell; Beverly Lucy Fessenden
Born 17 October 1926, Santa Cruz, CA
Beverly Garland never had a showy role in a critically-acclaimed motion picture, nor did she star on a highbrow TV series, but the blonde, lithe actress has managed a career of almost nonstop work since 1950. Over 40 years later, she has remained a frequent TV presence with her warm, inviting smile yet strong, determined demeanor. Garland's career as a working actress has continued long after some of her more celebrated peers have spent time with plastic surgeons and dreaming of a comeback.
Garland began her professional career on stage in Tustin, CA, an Orange County community just south of Long Beach. In 1949, she made her film debut (billed as Beverly Campbell) in the original version of the film D.O.A. By 1950, she was on TV in the L.A.-produced series Mama Rosa, sort of an Italian I Remember Mama that ran for about six months. She then began acting in episodics and in 1954 earned an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Single Performance as a leukemia victim in an episode of Medic (NBC). At the same time, she continued to appear in features, although mostly in B pictures. In 1953, she appeared with Edward G. Robinson in the behind-the-scenes TV mystery The Glass Web. She appeared in Miami Story (1954) and had a small role alongside Humphrey Bogart in William Wyler's Desperate Hours (1955). In The Steel Jungle (1956), Garland was a pregnant wife of a bookie who chooses jail over informing on the mob--or being with her. By 1959, Garland was in the low-budget Alligator People playing a woman who searches for her missing husband only to find him at a Southern mansion partly transformed into a reptile.
Film work became more sporadic in the 60s as Garland devoted herself to TV series work, but in 1974 she could be seen briefly in Airport 1975 as the wife of Dana Andrews. Garland was Linda Blair's shallow mother in Roller Boogie (1979) and co-starred in Claudia Weil's enchanting 1980 comedy It's My Turn.
Garland is undoubtedly better remembered for her TV series work. From 1957-58, Garland was female cop Casey Jones on the syndicated series Decoy, which is considered the first series to feature a woman police officer as a lead. She played wife to Bing Crosby on The Bing Crosby Show (ABC, 1964-65), and, in perhaps her most memorable TV role, was the widow who married Fred MacMurray on My Three Sons (CBS, 1969-72). From 1983-87, on Scarecrow & Mrs. King (CBS), she was Kate Jackson's mother. Garland also played recurring roles as a mother on other series, including NBC's Remington Steele (as Stephanie Zimbalist's mom) and, more recently, on ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (as Lois Lane's nagging mother).[1]
Active into the 1990s, Beverly Garland has supplemented her acting income with her job as spokesperson for a major Midwestern travel agency.[2]
Filmography
- Drive-In Movie Memories 2002
- The World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid 1992
- Finding the Way Home 1991
- Gamble on Love 1986
- This Girl for Hire 1983
- The French Lieutenant's Woman 1981
- It's My Turn 1980
- Roller Boogie 1979
- Sixth and Main 1977
- Deadly Volley 1975
- The Healers 1974
- The Day the Earth Moved 1974
- Airport 1975 1974
- Unwed Father 1974
- Where the Red Fern Grows 1974
- The Weekend Nun 1972
- Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole 1972
- The Voyage of the Yes 1972
- The Mad Room 1969
- Cutter's Trail 1969
- Pretty Poison 1968
- Stark Fear 1963
- Twice Told Tales 1963
- Gunfight at Sandoval (aka Gundown at Sandoval) 1959
- The Alligator People 1959
- The Saga of Hemp Brown 1958
- Not of This Earth 1957
- Naked Paradise 1957
- Lux Video Theatre: Holiday Affair 1957
- Badlands of Montana 1957
- Chicago Confidential 1957
- The Joker Is Wild 1957
- The Steel Jungle 1956
- Gunslinger 1956
- It Conquered the World 1956
- Curucu, Beast of the Amazon 1956
- Sudden Danger 1955
- New Orleans Uncensored 1955
- Swamp Women (aka Swamp Diamonds) 1955
- The Desperate Hours 1955
- The Miami Story 1954
- The Rocket Man 1954
- Two Guns and a Badge 1954
- Go-Getter 1954
- Bitter Creek 1954
- The Desperado 1954
- Killer Leopard 1954
- Problem Girls 1953
- The Neanderthal Man 1953
- The Glass Web 1953
- Ford Star Theatre, Vol. 3 1952
- A Life of Her Own 1950
- D.O.A. 1949[3]
Television
- Decoy as Casey Jones
- Mama Rosa as the daughter
- My Three Sons as Barbara Harper Douglas (1969-72)
- Port Charles as Estelle Reese (2000-2001)
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King as Dorothy "Dotty" West
- The Bing Crosby Show as Ellie Collins
- 7th Heaven as Ginger Jackson
- Hot Potato as herself
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as Ellen Lane [4]