Actress. She was an American Broadway stage and film actress, starting from 1897 to her death in 1936. She appeared in nineteen Hollywood films. Born one of two children of a Civil War veteran, her father Joby Howland, is credited with being "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," the youngest drummer in the Union Army, enlisting at age eleven. Sister of actor Olin Howland, she and Olin were children of her father and his second wife Mary. After acting locally, she had her first professional role in December of 1897 in "A Milk White Flag" at the Tacoma Theater in Washington before going to San Francisco and joining a touring group. A six-foot tall, red-haired beauty, she was a "Gibson Girl" model for Charles Dana Gibson. Following going to New York City to model for Gibson, she had a long theatrical career on the Broadway stage starting in 1899 in supporting roles. Though beautiful, her blasting voice was not appropriate for the drama stage, and her height impacted her career, especially when the leading man was shorter than her. Gracefully, she accepted the roles that were offered including playing elderly ladies when she was age 20. By 1918 she had moved to Hollywood and debuted in the drama "Her Only Way." In 1922 she returned to Broadway for a role in her close colleague, 1935 Pulitzer Prize playwright Zoe Akins' Broadway play "The Texas Nightingale." This followed into the 1930s with several stage performances in musicals and comedies. Credited with only three silent films, she was able to easily crossover to the "talkie" films. Her final film was the 1934 comedy "Ye Old Saw Mill." Opening in January of 1936, she appeared in her last Broadway play "O Evening Star," which had only five performances before closing. In June of that year, she died from heart disease. In 1900, she married novelist Arthur Stringer but the couple divorced in a few years. She and Akins, who cohabited for several years, had a very public stormy relationship before Akins' 1932 marriage.