Howell entered the state level of the Miss USA beauty pageant, hoping to earn some money to support her work in an acting career. After winning
Miss Louisiana USA, she became the first of three titleholders from the state to win the
Miss USA crown, when she won the Miss USA Pageant in
Long Beach,
California, in July 1958. That same week, she competed in the
Miss Universe Pageant and placed as third runner-up, and is to date the only Miss USA to place third runner-up at Miss Universe. Howell's television debut occurred September 28, 1958, on
Maverick in the episode "
Alias Bart Maverick," portraying a semi-regular character named "Cindy Lou Brown" who also appears in "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" and "Passage to Fort Doom". In 1959, she was cast as secretary "Melody Lee Mercer", a regular supporting role spanning 23 episodes, in the
ABC/
Warner Brothers crime drama
Bourbon Street Beat. The series is set in
New Orleans. Studio publicity at the time emphasized Howell's Louisiana roots, but the program was produced in Los Angeles. The show only lasted one season but this was an era in which a single season encompassed 39 episodes (she appeared in 23 of the 39 according to her
Internet Movie Database [imdb.com] article). Howell played "Cindy Lou Brown" in three episodes of
Maverick and appeared once as a character named "Ladybird Forge" in an episode titled "Island in the Swamp" with
James Garner and
Edgar Buchanan. She was cast in
77 Sunset Strip (episode: "A Nice Social Evening"),
Bronco (episode: "Prairie Skipper"),
Alcoa Premiere (episode: "What Ever Happened to Miss Illinois?"),
Bachelor Father (episode: "Ginger's Big Romance"), and played "Flora" in a 1966 episode of
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. in which she was the best friend of a blind date for an understandably flabbergasted Sgt. Carter. Howell ended her career at that point. ==Personal life==