Beverly Garland studied drama under Anita Arliss, sister of the renowned stage and film actor George Arliss . She played in a small theater in Glendale and later, after her family moved to Arizona , in Phoenix .
At the beginning of her career she worked for the radio and played - barely dressed - in a few short films before she made her debut in a supporting role in the crime film Victims of the Underworld ( DOA ) in 1949 . Since the 1950s she starred in numerous films, including B-movies with cult status, as well as in numerous television series well into old age.
Garland's roles in the 1950s tended to be those of strong women who get through life in violent situations. Alone in 1956 , she played a female sheriff in the Western Sunday thou shalt die (Engl. Gunslinger ), a Gefängnisausbrecherin in four women in the swamp (Engl. Swamp Women ) and the wife of a scientist, the one alien fought in It Conquered the World . All three films were parodied at the Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 1990s .
In 1957 Garland played the undercover investigator Casey Jones in the television series Decoy ; it was the first police series on US television, the protagonist of which was a woman. She is known to the general public for the impersonation of two suburban mothers: from 1969 to 1972 she played the second wife of the character Steve Douglas (played by Fred MacMurray ) in the last three seasons of the sitcom Meine Drei Söhne and from 1983 to 1987 Dotty West , the mother of Amanda King (played by Kate Jackson ), in all four seasons of the agent series Agentin mit Herz . She also had recurring roles as Laura Holt's mother during the first season of Remington Steele (1982-1983) and later as Lois Lane's mother in Superman: The Adventures of Lois & Clark (1995-1997).
Her many guest appearances on television included a role in "The Four of Us Are Dying" in the first season of Incredible Stories (1960) and the recurring character Ginger Jackson in the family series A Heavenly Family .
She had her last name since her marriage to actor Richard Garland , from whom she divorced in 1953 after four years of marriage. In 1960 she married the real estate agent Fillmore Crank, with whom she remained married until his death in 1999. Fillmore Crank built two hotels that bear her name. Until her death in 2008, she took care of the 255-room hotel “The Garland” in North Hollywood , California , in addition to her acting career .
Beverly Garland was honored with a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Garland's daughter is the actress Carrington Garland , best known for her role as Kelly Capwell in the US soap opera Santa Barbara .
