{{Short description|American actress (1880–1936)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Jobyna Howland | image = Jobyna Howland in Dixiana (1930).jpg | caption = Howland in ''Dixiana'' (1930) | birth_name = Jobyna Howland | birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|03|31|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|06|07|1880|03|31|mf=yes}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1899–1935 | spouse = {{marriage|Arthur Stringer|1903|1914|end=divorced}} | relatives = Olin Howland (brother) }}
'''Jobyna Howland''' (March 31, 1880 – June 7, 1936) was an American stage and screen actress.
==Early years== Howland was born on March 31, 1880, in Indianapolis, Indiana.<ref name="nytobit" /> Her parents were Joby Howland, a Civil War veteran who at age 11 was one of the youngest enlistees in the conflict, and his wife Mary C. Bunting. She was given the feminine version of her father's name. Her brother was character actor Olin Howland. Tall, regal and beautiful, red-haired Howland once modeled as a ''Gibson Girl'' for the famous illustrator Charles Dana Gibson.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 18, 1898 |title=The New Gibson Girl of the Autumn: Who She Is. Miss Jobyna Howland |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858055623254&seq=449&q1=Howland |work=The Illustrated American}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=January 7, 1899 |title=Daisy May Writes of the Newest Society Idols |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A17A1E9AE401A54AE%40GB3NEWS-185CD704A0245E9D%402414662-185CD41A28B735F4%406-185CD41A28B735F4%40?h=12&fname=&lname=&fullname=&rgfromDate=&rgtoDate=&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&kwinc=%22jobyna%20Howland%22%20near/10%20%22Gibson%22&kwexc=&sort=old&sid=jwmbzogeldyqdytdxzqxghgddqbizuqp_ip-10-166-46-189_1767528450200 |work=The Lowell Sun}}</ref><ref>''Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976'' originally compiled from numerous annual editions by John Parker; 1976 edition by Gale Research Company</ref><ref>"There Is No Gibson Girl," Northern Wisconsin Advertiser, April 19, 1900, citing from the ''New York Journal''</ref>
== Career == thumb|right|180px|Howland {{circa}} 1900 Having performed as an amateur actress, Howland left her Denver, Colorado, home to seek professional work on stage.<ref name="tsj">{{cite news |title=The Latest Gibson Girl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84212123/jobyna-howland/ |access-date=August 27, 2021 |work=The Topeka State Journal |date=November 25, 1898 |page=2|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> In December 1897, Howland appeared in ''A Milk White Flag'' at the Tacoma Theater in Tacoma, Washington.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dramatic: 'A Milk White Flag' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84211245/the-tacoma-daily-ledger/ |access-date=August 27, 2021 |work=The Tacoma Daily Ledger |date=December 5, 1987 |page=13|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> She also performed in San Francisco. There, she joined a company headed by Clay Clement and went on tour with him.<ref name="tsj" />
Howland attracted the attention of a photographer named Thors. His photographs of her were published in the ''Illustrated American'' and attracted the attention of Gibson.<ref name="tsj" /> She worked professionally as a model, beginning her posing a week after she arrived in New York, and she had become a model for Gibson before a month elapsed.<ref name="nytobit" />
She made her first appearance on the New York Stage in 1899 managed by Daniel Frohman. During her theatrical career, she apprenticed everything from drawing room farces to musical comedies always seeming to play the other woman, a best friend's pal or a distant cousin.<ref>[http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=67855 Jobyna Howland; Internet Broadway Database, IBDb.com]</ref>
She decided to try her luck in film and moved to a Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr.) bungalow in Beverly Hills which was maintained by Hernando, a Navajo servant who liked to sample Howland's makeup.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anita |last=Loos |title=The Talmadge Girls |page=99 |location=New York |publisher=Viking Press |year=1978 |isbn=0-670-69302-2 }}</ref> She appeared in a few silent pictures, but this medium did not seem to suit her booming, direct and distinct voice. In sound films, she typically played the kind of roles she had mastered on the stage, the domineering but dependable support. Her appearances in the comedies of Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey are some of her best known.
Howland's Broadway debut came as Queen Flavia in ''Rupert of Hentzau'' (1899), and her final Broadway role was Amy Bellaire in ''O Evening Star'' (1936).<ref>{{cite web |title=Jobyna Howland |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jobyna-howland-67855 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827014819/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jobyna-howland-67855 |archive-date=August 27, 2021}}</ref>
== Personal life and death == Howland married Arthur Stringer in 1903, but the marriage didn't last and was dissolved in 1914. She bore no children.{{Citation needed |date=August 2021}}
On June 7, 1936, Howland was found dead at age 56 on the kitchen floor of her home.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=May 2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0983-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |accessdate=September 10, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Police attributed her death to heart disease.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |title=Jobyna Howland, actress, found dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/06/09/archives/jobyna-howland-actress-found-dead-veteran-character-portrayer-of.html |access-date=August 27, 2021 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=June 9, 1936 |page=29}}</ref> She is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>
==Filmography== *''Her Only Way'' (1918) *''The Way of a Woman'' (1919) *''Second Youth'' (1924) *''Honey'' (1930) *''The Cuckoos'' (1930) *''Dixiana'' (1930) *''The Virtuous Sin'' (1930) *''A Lady's Morals'' (1930) *''Hook, Line and Sinker'' (1930) *''Stepping Sisters'' (1932) *''Big City Blues'' (1932) as Serena Cartlich *''Once in a Lifetime'' (1932) *''Rockabye'' (1932) *''Silver Dollar'' (1932) (uncredited) *''Topaze'' (1933) *''The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble'' (1933) *''The Story of Temple Drake'' (1933) *''Meet the Baron'' (1933) (uncredited) *''Ye Olde Saw Mill'' (1935) (short)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jobyna Howland}} * {{IMDb name|0398197}} * [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=jobyna+howland# Jobyna Howland portrait gallery New York Public Library, Billy Rose Collection] * [https://broadway.library.sc.edu/content/jobyna-howland.html Jobyna Howland: Broadway Photographs](Univ. of South Carolina)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howland, Jobyna}} Category:1880 births Category:1936 deaths Category:19th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Indianapolis Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)