| Beverly Garland |
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Page 1 of 2 BEVERLY GARLAND
1926 - 2008 Beverly Garland’s feisty appearances in B-movies of the 1950s have been forgotten by many—unfortunately erased by her most famous portrayal as Fred MacMurray’s sweet 2nd wife, Barbara, in the last 3 years of “My Three Sons.” But Beverly had a big career both before and after that sitcom. Cult movie fans know her as a scream queen in several Roger Corman films. And she played opposite some of the most absurd monsters in movie history (a giant cucumber comes to mind). Beverly had a solid 50-year career in over 100 TV shows and dozens of movies. Beverly Garland was born Beverly Fessenden in 1926 in Santa Cruz, California, but grew up in the Los Angeles area. She made her film debut under the name “Beverly Campbell”(she had a short-lived marriage in 1945 to Bob Campbell) in the film noir classic DOA in 1950. She followed it with a small uncredited part in the Lana Turner movie “A Life of Her Own.” Her TV debut was the same year co-starring in a short-lived live comedy called “Mama Rosa.” By 1951 she had married her second husband, Richard Garland. Even though they divorced in 1953, Beverly kept his last name professionally.  She was one of the busiest actresses of the 1950s. In fact, it wasn’t long into the decade when she became one of the Queens of the B-movies. She appeared in many the popular genres of the time: Westerns – 1954’s “Bitter Creek,” “Two Guns and a Badge,” and 1957’s “Badlands of Montana”; Sci Fi - 1953’s “Neanderthal Man,” 1956’s “Curucu, Beast of the Amazon,” and 1959’s “The Alligator People” ; Tough Girl flicks & Crime Dramas - 1953’s “Problem Girls,” 1954’s “The Miami Story,” 1955’s “New Orleans Uncensored,” and 1957’s “Chicago Confidential.” Another classic 50s portrayal was in “Killer Leopard” (1954) starring opposite a very unfriendly black leopard and a friendlier Bomba the Jungle Boy played by Johnny Sheffield.  She was a specific favorite of Roger Corman who starred Garland in some of his cheesiest (albeit most enjoyable) productions. She didn’t back down from any of Corman’s “creative” monsters in 1956’s b&w classic “It Conquered the World” (the giant cucumber from another planet) with Peter Graves or 1957’s “Not of this Earth”; she stood up to anyone in her way in 1955’s “Swamp Women” and 1957’s “Naked Paradise” and held her own in Corman’s 1956 Western “Gunslinger.” Her Corman work has ensured her status as a cult icon. |
