Beverly Garland

Biography

Born in Santa Cruz, California, Beverly Garland studied dramatics under Anita Arliss, the sister of renowned stage and screen star George Arliss. She acted in little theater in Glendale then in Phoenix after her family relocated to Arizona. Garland also worked in radio and appeared scantily clad in a few risqué shorts before making her feature film debut in a supporting part in D.O.A. (1950). Her husbands include actor Richard Garland and land developer Fillmore Crank, who built the two hotels which bear her name. In 2001, Garland began her "second 50 years in show business" and has guest-starred on a number of television programs including The Guardian (2001) on CBS and Weakest Link (2001) on NBC, as well as maintaining her continuing roles on 7th Heaven (1996) on the WB and Port Charles (1997) on ABC, which began in the 1990s. In addition, she is the recipient of one of the entertainment industry's highest honors, receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983. In 2001, in recognition of her 50 years in show business, the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters inducted her into its Hall of Fame. Garland has two very significant historical television "firsts": she was television's first policewoman as the star of Decoy (1957) and, more importantly, the series gave her the honor of becoming the first actress to star in a television dramatic series. Now widowed (her husband of 39 years died in 1999), she continued to operate, with the assistance of three of her four children, the 255-room Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood. Beverly Garland died at age 82 in her home in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California in December 5, 2008.