---
name: "Kathleen Howard"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kathleen-howard"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "27 July 1884"
died: "15 April 1956"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T00:30:03.741396+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kathleen Howard

Actor. Born 27 July 1884 in Clifton, Ontario, Canada. Died 15 April 1956.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 27 July 1884, Clifton, Ontario, Canada
- **Died:** 15 April 1956
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 other
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Howard, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q975874, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0397427/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/20126

## Biography

Kathleen Howard (27 July 1884 – 15 April 1956) was a Canadian-born American opera singer, magazine editor and character actress. She began her operatic career in Europe, making her debut in 1907 at Metz and later performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1916 to 1928, where she created the role of Zita in the world premiere of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (1918). She also served as fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar.

Howard made her film debut in Death Takes a Holiday (1934) and appeared in numerous Hollywood productions through the 1940s and early 1950s. She is noted for roles in It’s a Gift (1934), Ball of Fire (1941), Blossoms in the Dust (1941), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), Laura (1944) and Born to Be Bad (1950). She spent her childhood in Buffalo, New York, and is buried there in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, rottentomatoes.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these

- *Blossoms in the Dust* (1941), Fi1m 58, as Mrs. Sarah Keats — [page](https://film.one/film/blossoms-in-the-dust.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Laura* (1944), Fi1m 86, as Ann's Cook Louise (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/laura.md)

## Complete filmography (41)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Born to Be Bad* (1950), as Mrs. Bolton
- *Cry of the City* (1948), as Miss Pruett's Mother
- *The Bride Goes Wild* (1948), as Aunt Susan
- *Cynthia* (1947), as Mac McQuillan, Jannings' Nurse
- *Curley* (1947), as Aunt Martha
- *The Late George Apley* (1947), as Margaret
- *Danger Woman* (1946), as Eddie
- *Centennial Summer* (1946), as Deborah
- *Mysterious Intruder* (1946), as Rose Denning
- *Miss Susie Slagle's* (1946), as Miss Wingate (uncredited)
- *Snafu* (1945), as Dean Garrett
- *Shady Lady* (1945), as Butch
- *Eadie Was a Lady* (1945), as Aunt Priscilla Alden
- *Laura* (1944), as Ann's Cook Louise (uncredited) — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/laura.md)
- *Reckless Age* (1944), as Sarah Wadsworth
- *Swing Out the Blues* (1943), as Aunt Amanda
- *Crash Dive* (1943), as Miss Bromley
- *You Were Never Lovelier* (1942), as Grandmother Acuña (uncredited)
- *Lady in a Jam* (1942), as Mrs. Howard (uncredited)
- *The Mad Martindales* (1942), as Grandmother Varney
- *Take a Letter, Darling* (1942), as Aunt Minnie
- *Ball of Fire* (1941), as Miss Bragg
- *Miss Polly* (1941), as Minerva Snodgrass
- *Blossoms in the Dust* (1941), as Mrs. Sarah Keats — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/blossoms-in-the-dust.md)
- *Sweetheart of the Campus* (1941), as Mrs. Minnie Lambeth Sparr
- *A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob* (1941), as Jawme Duncan
- *One Night in the Tropics* (1940), as Judge McCracken (uncredited)
- *Mystery Sea Raider* (1940), as Maggie Clancy
- *Five Little Peppers in Trouble* (1940), as Martha Wilcox
- *Young People* (1940), as Hester Appleby
- *Outside the Three-Mile Limit* (1940), as Socialite (uncredited)
- *First Love* (1939), as Miss Wiggins
- *Little Accident* (1939), as Mrs. Allerton
- *Three Smart Girls Grow Up* (1939), as Mrs. Kittenhaven
- *Stolen Holiday* (1937), as Mme. Delphine
- *Man on the Flying Trapeze* (1935), as Leona Wolfinger
- *It's a Gift* (1934), as Amelia Bissonette
- *Once to Every Bachelor* (1934), as Aunt Henrietta
- *One More River* (1934), as Lady Charwell
- *You're Telling Me!* (1934), as Mrs. Murchison
- *Death Takes a Holiday* (1934), as Princess Maria

## Gallery

- ![Kathleen Howard](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-74e6d644b750.jpg) Kathleen Howard — George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Kathleen_Howard.jpg/1280px-Kathleen_Howard.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Canadian opera singer and actress Kathleen Howard (1884-1956) as Carmen (1913)](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-6ee42ef54f21.jpg) Canadian opera singer and actress Kathleen Howard (1884-1956) as Carmen (1913) — George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Kathleen_Howard_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kathleen Howard in Miss Polly - publicity still (cropped) (1941)](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-1bc456948a11.jpg) Kathleen Howard in Miss Polly - publicity still (cropped) (1941) — unknown (Hal Roach Studios/United Artists), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Kathleen_Howard_in_Miss_Polly_%281941%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Canadian opera singer and actress Kathleen Howard (1884-1956) as Zita in Gianni Schicchi from Puccini's Il Trittico (1918)](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-ba33743dac3d.jpg) Canadian opera singer and actress Kathleen Howard (1884-1956) as Zita in Gianni Schicchi from Puccini's Il Trittico (1918) — White Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Kathleen_Howard_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kathleen Howard](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-72f8c05bb656.jpg) Kathleen Howard — Image via TMDB
- ![Title: Howard Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1915)](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-e50ca7777f5c.jpg) Title: Howard Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1915) — Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Howard_LCCN2014710326.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Title: Kathleen Howard Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1915)](https://film.one/media/person/460297/gallery-af8af4397ffb.jpg) Title: Kathleen Howard Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1915) — Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Kathleen_Howard_LCCN2014701953.jpg/1280px-Kathleen_Howard_LCCN2014701953.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kathleen-howard