Kathleen Howard

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884 – April 15, 1956) was a Canadian-born American opera singer, magazine editor, and character actress from the mid-1930s through the 1940s.

Howard created the role of Zita in Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918. Until World War I, Howard was part of the repertory system in the opera houses of Metz and Darmstadt.

Beginning in 1918, for four years, Howard was the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar magazine and while in that post was also president of Fashion Group International. She resigned to begin acting in films.

Her film debut came in Death Takes a Holiday (1934). She played Amelia, the nagging, shrewish wife of W.C. Fields in It's a Gift (1934), and appeared in two other Fields films: You're Telling Me! (1934) and Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935).

Howard died on April 15, 1956, aged 71, in Hollywood, California after a long illness. She was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

Legacy

Howard did not make as many opera recordings during the acoustical era as did her contemporaries Geraldine Farrar and Mary Garden, and thus was not as well known. Her few recordings were vertical-cut discs for Edison Records, playable only on Edison Disc Phonographs; and for the American branch of Pathé Frères in 1918, which received limited distribution. Among them are Harry Burleigh's arrangement of the spiritual "Deep River", arias from Charles Gounod's Faust and Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore (in English), and the "Barcarolle" from Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann with Claudia Muzio (in French).

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1934 Death Takes a Holiday Princess Maria You're Telling Me! Mrs. Edward Quimby Murchison One More River Lady Charwell Once to Every Bachelor Aunt Henrietta Lady by Choice Mrs. Mills It's a Gift Mrs. Amelia Bissonette Starring W.C. Fields 1935 Man on the Flying Trapeze Leona Wolfinger Alternative title: The Memory Expert1937 Stolen Holiday Madame Delphine The Hit Parade Mrs. Barrett Uncredited1938 When G-Men Step In Mrs. Drake Uncredited Letter of Introduction Aunt Jonnie in Play Uncredited Crime Takes a Holiday Mrs. Allen, Governor's Wife Uncredited1939 Three Smart Girls Grow Up Mrs. Kittenhaven Uncredited Rio Mme. Adrienne Lamartine Uncredited Little Accident Mrs. Allerton First Love Miss Wiggins 1940 Outside the Three-Mile Limit Socialite Uncredited Mystery Sea Raider Maggie Clancy Young People Hester Appleby Five Little Peppers in Trouble Mrs. Wilcox One Night in the Tropics Judge McCracken Uncredited1941 A Girl, a Guy and a Gob Jawme Duncan Sweetheart of the Campus Mrs. Minnie Lambeth Sparr Blossoms in the Dust Mrs. Sarah Keats Miss Polly Mrs. Minerva Snodgrass Ball of Fire Miss Bragg Alternative title: The Professor and the Burlesque Queen1942 Take a Letter, Darling Aunt Minnie Alternative title: Green-Eyed Woman The Mad Martindales Grandmother Varney Lady in a Jam Woman Uncredited The Magnificent Dope Tad's Mother, Mrs. Page Uncredited You Were Never Lovelier Grandmother Acuña Uncredited1943 Crash Dive Miss Bromley Uncredited My Kingdom for a Cook Mrs. Theodore Carter Uncredited Swing Out the Blues Aunt Amanda1944 Reckless Age Sarah Wadsworth Laura Louise, Ann's Cook Uncredited1945 Eadie Was a Lady Aunt Priscilla Shady Lady Butch Snafu Dean Garrett1946 Miss Susie Slagle's Miss Wingate Uncredited Mysterious Intruder Rose Denning Centennial Summer Deborah Danger Woman Eddie1947 Cross My Heart Mrs. Klute Uncredited The Late George Apley Margaret, the Maid Uncredited Cynthia McQuillan The Hal Roach Comedy Carnival Aunt Martha, in 'Curly'1948 The Bride Goes Wild Aunt Susan Cry of the City Miss Pruett's Mother Uncredited1950 The Petty Girl Prof. Langton Uncredited Born to Be Bad Mrs. Bolton Television Year Title Role Notes 1951 The Bigelow Theatre 1 episode