Beth Howland, 'Ditzy Vera On Alice' Dead For Five Months Due To Cancer

Beth Howland, known for her role as the clumsy and ditzy waitress Vera Louise Gorman on the 1970s and 80s sitcom "Alice," is dead for almost five months now. Her husband said it was the actress' wish for him not to disclose her death. Howland was 74. 

New York Times reported that Howland's husband, actor Charles Kimbrought shared that she died on Dec. 31, 2015 from lung cancer. Her husband added that a strange wish of her wife was that she will get a funeral or a memorial service. "It was the Boston side of her personality coming out," Mr. Kimbrough said. "She didn't want to make a fuss."

Howland played the funny waitress for nine seasons of "Alice" from 1976 to 1985. Television viewers were very amused by her role, always jumpy, always so innocent. When she was about the character, she told Knight Newspapers in 1979: "Insecure and vulnerable. Probably works the hardest of anybody in the diner. Very gullible, very innocent."

Before earning this iconic role, she got a replacement role as Lady Beth in "Once Upon a Mistress." She also performed as a dancer in "Bye Bye Birdie." The actress was part of the original production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's "Company," where she was the original Amy.

She also performed with the 1968 hit off-Broadway musical Your Own Thing, a musical version of Twelfth Night. She earned an Academy Award in 1989 along with Jennier Warren for being the executive producers of the documentary "You Don't Have to Die." The documentary revolves around a 6-year-old boy's successful battle against cancer, as reported by Theater Mania.

Elizabeth Howland was born on May 28, 1941. She married twice. The first time was with Michael J. Pollard when she was 19. Pollard was her co-actor in "Bye Bye Birdie." They eventually divorced.

She married actor Charles Kimbrought  next, who plays the anchorman Jim Dial on "Murphy Brown." She is survived by her husband and daughter from first marriage Holly Holland.