New Vacancy at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn

(Props to Craig)
B-movie starlet and Mystery Science Theater 3000 fave Beverly Garland has died at the age of 82. Any number of her oeuvre, especially those in the Roger Corman catalog, would have been deserving of the Joel/Mike and The Bots treatment, but just three earned the honor: Swamp Diamonds, with Garland as one of 3 escaped prisoners trying to locate stolen diamonds in a swamp with kidnapped pre-Mannix Touch (Mike) Connors, in tow; Gunslinger, a Western with Garland providing the inspiration for Suzanne Somers as a female sheriff; and It Conquered the World, where Garland got killed by an angry space artichoke. Other highlights included Not of This Earth, Curucu, Beast of the Amazon, and the Alligator People. Later, she became stepmonster to Robbie, Chip and Mike as Steve’s second wife in the post shark-jump seasons of My Three Sons, Bing’s wife on The Bing Crosby Show, an ex-girlfriend of Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and mother to Laura Holt (Remington Steele), Amanda King (Scarecrow and Mrs. King), and Lois Lane (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman).