Queen of the Schlock Horror

Beverley Garland's life was studded with alligator people and giant cucumbers. Her credits include such 1950s B-films as Swamp Women, Curucu Beast of the Amazon, The Alligator People, and It Conquered the World. Though she received most fan mail for her spunky roles in ridiculous cheapo horrors, she also starred in the 1950 noir classic DOA and earned an Emmy nomination in 1955 for her performance as a leukemia patient in Medic. In the TV series Decoy (1957-59), she played the lead cop in the first show to feature a female protagonist. She also appeared in Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and My Three Sons. She died on December 5 at age 82.