[5] After some time of struggling, Howland made her Broadway debut in 1959 as Lady Beth in the musical Once Upon a Mattress, which transferred from Off-Broadway.

[6] Howland can be seen dancing and singing in the chorus of the movie Li'l Abner (1959) as Clem's wife, alongside future television star Valerie Harper.

[5] After appearing in Company, she left New York to relocate to California,[7] where she made guest appearances on television series such as Love, American Style, Cannon, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Little House on the Prairie, Eight Is Enough, and The Love Boat.

She later took on numerous telefilm roles, including You Can't Take It with You (as Essie) and A Caribbean Mystery.

She made occasional guest appearances in shows including Murder, She Wrote, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and The Tick.