Howland (Beth) is born in Boston.

Beth Howland studies dance at the Hazel Boone Studio, graduates from high school, and moves to New York City to pursue a career in show business, and lands small roles on and off Broadway. She subsequently appears as as a regular in the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Alice, and wins an Academy Award as a producer of a documentary in 1989. Howland dies in Santa Monica, California, on December 31, 2015, but her death is not announced until months later because, her husband actor Charles Kimbrough, explains, “It was the Boston side of her personality coming out. She didn’t want to make a fuss.”