Howard, Kathleen

Kathleen Howard (1884-1956) was a Canadian-born opera singer (mezzo-soprano), magazine editor and US film character actress from the mid-1930s through the 1940s. She spent her childhood in Buffalo, NY and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery there. She created the role of Zita in Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918. She was also particularly memorable as the nagging, shrewish wife of W.C. Fields in a film that many historians consider to be his best and funniest, It's a Gift (1934); she additionally appeared in two other films of W.C. Fields: You're Telling Me! (19...