11 Facts About Esther Howard

Esther Howard was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career.

When Howard was five years old, her family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, where her father had lived prior to relocating to Montana.

Esther Howard began her stage career performing in stock theater in Lynn, Massachusetts, before making her Broadway debut in 1917 in a play called Eve's Daughter, which was not a success.

In 1930, Miss Esther Howard was still slender and beautiful when she changed her focus to making movies, appearing in a Vitaphone comedy short, The Victim.

Esther Howard was often cast as an oversexed dowager, a decrepit old hag, and occasionally, a glamorous society dame.

Miss Esther Howard's lovely singing voice was used to ghost sing for bigger-name stars who had no singing talent, but she never sang onscreen for herself.

From 1940 to 1949, Esther Howard was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in seven films written and directed by Sturges.

From 1937, Esther Howard was a regular player in short-subjects produced at Columbia Pictures, where she was frequently cast opposite comedian Andy Clyde.

Esther Howard's last film was a Columbia comedy short, Caught on the Bounce, in which she played Joe Besser's aunt.

Esther Howard died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, on March 8,1965, aged 72.

Esther Howard is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.