Beth Howland, the actress best known for her role as a ditzy waitress on the 1970s and ‘80s CBS sitcom “Alice,” has died. She was 74. Her husband, actor Charles Kimbrough, told The Associated Press that Howland died Dec. 31. He said there had been no announcement, funeral or memorial service because that’s how she wanted it.
“That was her choice,” he said.
Howland was born May 28, 1941, in Boston. At 16, she landed a role on Broadway alongside Dick Van Dyke in “Bye Bye Birdie.” CBS later noticed Howland on stage in the 1970 production of “Company” and brought her to Hollywood for a bit part on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Small roles on “The Love Boat” and “Little House on the Prairie” followed and a major break came when she was cast as Vera Louise Gorman on “Alice,” a comedy set in an Arizona greasy spoon diner based on the 1974 Martin Scorsese film, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
Howland earned four Golden Globe nominations during the comedy’s 1976-85 run for her performance as the naive Vera.
I used to love "Alice" and always enjoyed Vera. I always remember watching (and enjoying) her suddenly destroying the box of straws in the show's opening credits.
It's odd the things you remember...
Although I never saw her on Broadway in the show Company, her rendition of "Not Getting Married" is pretty amazing.
I don't know how anyone can sing and speak that fast without messing up.
New viral sensation and Mom, Candace Payne, has take the Internets by storm with her hilarious video in the Kohls parking lot after buying herself a Chewbacca mask. If you haven't seen her giggle-inducing video yet...check it out above, then watch the videos below.
After her video broke various online records (over 20 million views on Facebook) and, as a result, caused the mask to sell out EVERYWHERE, James Corden had her on his show last night where she got some directing tips from special guest-passenger and Star Wars director J.J. Abrams.
Her laugh is really infectious and you can't help but just smile/giggle along with her.
A new poster and trailer were released for Star Trek Beyond over the weekend....
The new poster is very similar to the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture poster (the first of all of the Star Trek movies), which is an interesting choice...
This new trailer is MUCH better than the first one, which is a good thing. It appears more epic in scope with all of the action and effects (and the potential for another Enterprise ship being destroyed, which seems to happen somewhat frequently in these movies) that we've gotten used to over the years.
We'll find out how the new movie fares compared to the previous films when it opens on July 22nd.
A new trailer for the Steven Spielberg-directed film BFG was just released....
This extended trailer gives you a lot more info about the story and the characters, especially the "BFG" (which stands for "Big FRIENDLY Giant"...not the other "F" word, which is what I originally thought, and hoped, it meant).
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this when it opens on July 1st!
The Wonder Woman movie finished shooting this week...
I know that Gal Gadot is likely moving right into filming Justice League: Part 1 (which started production a couple of weeks ago), so she's gonna be very busy this summer.
It looks like it could be a hoot and, quite possibly, a hollar!
I know that her humor isn't for everyone, but I think she's hilarious...so I'm gonna be all over this when it starts streaming tomorrow night, May 11th.
SNL had a long-overdue visit from the Church Lady on Saturday night where she interviewed Donald Trump and Ted Cruz...
“Donny there are those who say you’re not qualified and that’s not true. You know I remember a Celebrity Apprentice episode where Gary Busey didn’t sell enough pancakes and you just said ‘you’re fired’ and I thought right then and there, give that man the nuclear codes.”
A very cool video was just released that shows some of the creative ways that the Game of Thrones' effects teams worked their magic on the first two episodes of this season...
It's amazing how many large and very subtle effects are used within any given scene of the show.
Awesome.
Update: The video was taken down. However, I've found another video that showcases the variety of cool effects used on the show.
James Corden released a new episode of Carpool Karaoke last night and, this time, it features Gwen Stefanie and a couple of "random" passengers who join them along the way....
Like the others, it's very entertaining and fun. Especially all of them singing "Hollar Back Girl" and "We are the Champions".
Just a side note: George Clooney and Julia Robertsnever got in the car with me so that I could ride in the HOV lane when I lived in LA.
The first official trailer for Jason Bourne was released recently...
It looks as exciting as the other three that Matt Damon starred in, which is a good sign. I didn't care for the Jeremy Renner one as much, so am happy to see Matt back in action now that he's returned safely from Mars.