Stan Laurel considered her one of the ten greatest comediennes of all time.
Appeared in vaudeville in New York and on the road before moving to California to begin a film career with her friend from vaudeville, Mack Sennett.
Her second husband was the motion picture director, Richard Smith, with whom she earlier had a vaudeville act known as Howell and Howell. The name came about when they were asked to replace an act on the road called Howell and Howell and there was not time to change the billboards.
Mother of Yvonne Howell Stevens (1905- ), who married the director George Stevens and is the mother of George Stevens Jr. and the grandmother of Michael Stevens.