Howland was born on May 28, 1941, in Boston. At the age of 16, she left home and followed a dancer friend to New York City. After a time of struggling, Howland made her Broadway debut in 1959 as Lady Beth in the Carol Burnett musical Once Upon a Mattress, which transferred from off-Broadway. She went on to have roles in the musicals Bye Bye Birdie, High Spirits, Drat! The Cat! and Darling of the Day.

From 1961 to 1969, Howland was married to actor Michael J. Pollard, with whom she had a daughter.

She remained on Alice throughout its nine seasons. After the sitcom ended in 1985, Howland went into semi-retirement. She made occasional guest appearances (including Murder, She Wrote; Chicken Soup for the Soul; Sabrina the Teenage Witch; and The Tick) and starred in the ABC Afterschool Special, “Terrible Things My Mother Told Me”.

In 2002 she wed Murphy Brown actor Charles Kimbrough and remained married to him until her death in 2015. Kimbrough and Howland had appeared together in Company.

Howland, who had been a smoker since she was a teenager until she finally quit in the early 2000s, died of lung cancer on December 31, 2015, at age 74. Per her request, her death was not reported to the media until May 24, 2016, four days before her 75th birthday.