Elizabeth Alda is an American actress best known for playing Beth Burroughs in the 1981 comedy-drama The Four Seasons and for returning to the same role in its 1984 television adaptation. She is also widely recognized as the daughter of acclaimed actor, writer, and director Alan Alda and author, photographer, and musician Arlene Alda. Although she was born into a prominent entertainment family, Elizabeth built only a brief public acting résumé and has largely remained outside the celebrity spotlight.
That limited public presence is an important part of understanding Elizabeth Alda. Online searches sometimes produce biographies filled with claims about her marriage, children, education, wealth, or current profession, but reliable documentation for many of those details is difficult to find. What can be established with reasonable confidence is a smaller but interesting story: Elizabeth grew up in the Alda family, appeared in one of her father’s best-known filmmaking projects, reprised her character on television, and later had a small part in the cult horror-comedy Night of the Creeps.
Elizabeth Alda Quick Facts
| Detail | Verified or publicly documented information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elizabeth Alda |
| Date of birth | August 20, 1960 |
| Birthplace | New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Actress |
| Father | Alan Alda |
| Mother | Arlene Alda |
| Sisters | Eve Alda Coffey and Beatrice Alda |
| Known for | The Four Seasons and Night of the Creeps |
| The Four Seasons role | Beth Burroughs |
| Active public acting period | Primarily the 1980s |
| Husband | Not reliably confirmed in major public sources reviewed |
| Children | Not reliably confirmed |
| Net worth | Not publicly verified |
Elizabeth Alda’s birth date and New York City birthplace are listed in her professional biography, while Alan Alda’s biographical records identify Elizabeth as one of his three daughters.
Who Is Elizabeth Alda?
Elizabeth Alda is a member of one of America’s recognizable entertainment families, but she should not be confused with a celebrity who has spent decades actively pursuing publicity. Her documented screen career is relatively small. Professional entertainment listings identify her principally with The Four Seasons, its television adaptation, and Night of the Creeps.
Her connection to Alan Alda naturally attracts interest. Alan became internationally famous through M*A*S*H and developed a long career as an actor, screenwriter and director. Elizabeth’s mother, Arlene Alda, has worked as a photographer, author and musician. Elizabeth therefore grew up around creative professions, but the available evidence does not justify assuming that she intended to follow exactly the same path as either parent.
Elizabeth did act professionally, yet the small number of documented credits suggests that acting did not develop into the kind of long-running public career associated with her father. Because she has maintained such a low profile, descriptions of her life after those appearances should be approached carefully.
Early Life and the Alda Family
Elizabeth Alda was born on August 20, 1960, in New York City. She is the daughter of Alan Alda and Arlene Alda, who married in 1957. Elizabeth grew up with two sisters, Eve and Beatrice. Professional biographies and family records consistently identify the three women as Alan and Arlene’s daughters.
Her childhood also coincided with the period when her father’s entertainment career was expanding dramatically. Alan Alda had already begun working as an actor before Elizabeth’s birth and eventually became especially associated with Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H. Despite the demands of his career, published biographical information notes that Alan’s wife and daughters remained based in the East while he worked extensively in Los Angeles during the show’s run.
Growing up in such an environment would have made film, television, writing, music, and photography familiar parts of family life. However, detailed accounts of Elizabeth’s childhood experiences are not widely documented. It is therefore better to distinguish the family’s known creative background from assumptions about how it personally shaped her ambitions.
Her Parents: Alan Alda and Arlene Alda
Elizabeth’s father, Alan Alda, was born Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo in 1936. His career spans acting, directing, screenwriting and other forms of communication. He became particularly famous for M*A*S*H, but his work also includes movies such as The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Aviator, Bridge of Spies, and Marriage Story.
Arlene Alda, Elizabeth’s mother, has followed a different creative path. Public biographical material describes her as an author, photographer and clarinetist. She was born Arlene Hope Weiss in the Bronx and married Alan Alda in March 1957.
The combination of Alan’s work in theater, television and cinema and Arlene’s interests in music, photography and writing placed Elizabeth within an unusually creative family. Still, her own career should be evaluated separately rather than treating her merely as an extension of her parents’ achievements.
Elizabeth Alda’s Sisters
Elizabeth has two sisters: Eve Alda Coffey and Beatrice Alda. Of the three daughters, Beatrice has maintained the clearest public connection to filmmaking. She appeared alongside Elizabeth in The Four Seasons, playing Lisa Callan while Elizabeth portrayed Beth Burroughs. Beatrice later accumulated additional acting and filmmaking credits.
The sisters’ participation in The Four Seasons is especially interesting because their father wrote, directed and starred in the movie. Elizabeth and Beatrice therefore became part of a production in which the Alda family’s real-life relationship overlapped with fictional family roles.
Beatrice’s later career included acting and documentary filmmaking, whereas Elizabeth’s publicly documented acting work remained much more limited. Eve, meanwhile, has generally maintained a less entertainment-focused public profile. Reliable sources do not provide enough information to construct a detailed comparison of the sisters’ private lives, so claims beyond their documented professional and family connections should be treated cautiously.
Elizabeth Alda in The Four Seasons
Elizabeth Alda’s most recognizable screen appearance came in the 1981 movie The Four Seasons. Written and directed by Alan Alda, the film follows three couples whose friendships and relationships are tested as they take seasonal vacations together. Its main cast included Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston and Bess Armstrong.
Elizabeth played Beth Burroughs, the daughter of Jack and Kate Burroughs, portrayed by Alan Alda and Carol Burnett. The American Film Institute catalog confirms Elizabeth’s credit as Beth, while Beatrice Alda appears as Lisa Callan.
Beth is not the central character around whom the entire movie revolves, but she forms part of the younger generation affected by the relationships among the adults. Her presence helps expand the film beyond a simple story about three couples by showing how family relationships exist alongside friendship, marriage and changing romantic circumstances.
For Elizabeth, the role remains significant because it represents her best-documented film appearance and connected her professionally with her father’s work as a filmmaker.
Working With Alan Alda on The Four Seasons
Having Alan Alda as the writer, director, lead actor and father of two members of the cast makes The Four Seasons an unusual entry in the Alda family’s screen history. Alan played Jack Burroughs while Elizabeth played Jack’s daughter Beth. That created a direct overlap between their real family relationship and the fictional father-daughter relationship shown on screen.
At the same time, it would be inaccurate to invent behind-the-scenes stories about how Elizabeth was cast or how father and daughter worked together. Publicly accessible production records establish their roles, but they do not provide enough reliable evidence to describe Elizabeth’s personal feelings about the experience or the exact circumstances behind her casting.
What is certain is that The Four Seasons was a substantial theatrical production rather than an obscure family project. Universal Pictures was the production company, and the movie received a U.S. theatrical release in May 1981.
That gave Elizabeth exposure within a professionally produced film featuring several established performers.
Returning as Beth in The Four Seasons Television Series
The story of The Four Seasons did not end with the movie. A television adaptation appeared in 1984, and Elizabeth Alda returned as Beth Burroughs. Her professional credit for the television version confirms that she reprised the character she had played in the original film.
This return makes Beth Burroughs more than a single isolated screen credit. Elizabeth participated in two versions of the property several years apart, giving her a small but identifiable connection to both film and television.
The television adaptation used a different principal cast for several characters, so Elizabeth’s return also provided a link to the original movie. Her involvement demonstrates that her acting career was not limited strictly to her father’s 1981 film, even though her overall number of known credits remained modest.
Night of the Creeps and Elizabeth Alda’s Horror Role
Elizabeth Alda later appeared in the 1986 horror-comedy Night of the Creeps. Unlike her role as Beth Burroughs, this was a small part. Cast records credit her as “Cop in Alley.”
The role may have been brief, but it has become part of her lasting filmography because Night of the Creeps developed a following among fans of 1980s horror and science-fiction comedy. Elizabeth’s appearance also shows her working in a production unrelated to The Four Seasons and outside a project directed by her father.
TV Guide’s professional listing similarly identifies Night of the Creeps, the movie version of The Four Seasons, and its television adaptation among Elizabeth’s known acting credits.
There is little reliable evidence of a substantial screen career continuing after these appearances. Rather than assuming why she stepped away, the most accurate conclusion is simply that widely accessible professional databases document only a small number of acting credits.
Why Elizabeth Alda Did Not Become a Long-Term Hollywood Star
It is tempting to describe Elizabeth Alda as someone who “quit Hollywood” or deliberately rejected fame, but such statements require evidence. There is limited reliable public material explaining why her acting credits did not expand into a decades-long career.
Many performers appear in a handful of productions and later pursue other interests. Others simply choose not to maintain public careers. In Elizabeth’s case, the available record establishes the limited size of her filmography but does not clearly establish the personal reasons behind it.
That distinction matters. A biography should not turn an absence of information into a dramatic narrative. Without a credible interview or direct statement from Elizabeth, claims that she disliked acting, abandoned Hollywood for a particular career, or intentionally rejected celebrity status remain unverified.
What can reasonably be said is that Elizabeth’s public acting activity appears concentrated in the 1980s and that she has subsequently maintained a considerably lower public profile than Alan Alda.
Elizabeth Alda’s Private Life
One of the most noticeable aspects of Elizabeth Alda’s biography is how little reliable information exists about her private adult life. Searches for her name may produce claims about relationships, marriage, children, occupations, or places of residence, but many such details circulate without strong sourcing.
Major entertainment listings reviewed for this profile establish her family background and acting credits but do not provide dependable information about a husband or children. For that reason, those details should be listed as not publicly confirmed rather than guessed.
The same caution applies to claims about her present occupation. Her professional identity is historically documented as an actress, but there is insufficient authoritative public evidence in the reviewed sources to state with confidence what career, if any, she currently pursues.
Maintaining that distinction is especially important for someone who is not consistently active in public life. Being related to a famous actor does not make every aspect of a person’s private life a matter of established public record.
Elizabeth Alda’s Education
Reliable public sources reviewed for this article do not provide sufficiently strong documentation of Elizabeth Alda’s educational history.
Some celebrity-profile websites may attach school or college information to public figures without clearly identifying the original source. Unless that information can be connected to a dependable biography, interview, institutional record or similarly credible reference, it should not be presented as fact.
Consequently, Elizabeth’s specific schools, university education, degree and field of study should currently be regarded as not publicly confirmed based on the reliable sources used here.
This is a good example of why careful celebrity research matters. A biography can remain useful without filling every information gap. Clearly identifying what is unknown is more accurate than repeating an unsupported detail simply because it appears on multiple secondary websites.
Elizabeth Alda’s Net Worth
There is no reliable publicly verified figure for Elizabeth Alda’s net worth.
Celebrity wealth estimates frequently appear online, particularly for people connected to famous families. Such numbers may look precise, but they often lack access to financial records, private assets, investments, debts, income, trusts or other information necessary to calculate an individual’s wealth accurately.
Elizabeth’s small publicly documented acting résumé provides no reasonable basis for calculating her current finances. Her relationship to Alan Alda also should not be used to infer her personal wealth.
Unless Elizabeth herself, an authoritative financial filing, or another dependable source provides such information, any exact net-worth number should be considered speculative. The most responsible answer is therefore: Elizabeth Alda’s net worth is not publicly confirmed.
Elizabeth Alda and the Larger Alda Entertainment Legacy
Elizabeth belongs to a family with connections to American entertainment extending beyond her immediate household. Her grandfather Robert Alda was an actor, singer and performer, while Alan Alda became the family’s most internationally recognized figure. Alan’s half-brother Antony Alda also worked as an actor.
Within the next generation, Elizabeth and Beatrice both appeared on screen. Beatrice later expanded her work into filmmaking and documentary production.
Elizabeth’s place in this history is smaller in terms of the number of productions, but it is still distinctive. She appeared in a movie written and directed by her father, acted alongside her sister, returned for the television adaptation, and later appeared in a very different genre with Night of the Creeps.
Her story therefore offers an interesting example of how members of famous entertainment families can have very different relationships with the industry. Sharing a celebrated surname does not necessarily result in identical careers.
What Is Verified and What Remains Unknown?
A useful Elizabeth Alda biography needs to separate documented facts from information that remains uncertain.
Well-documented information includes:
- Elizabeth Alda was born in New York City on August 20, 1960.
- Her parents are Alan Alda and Arlene Alda.
- Her sisters are Eve Alda Coffey and Beatrice Alda.
- She played Beth Burroughs in the 1981 film The Four Seasons.
- She reprised Beth in the 1984 television version.
- She appeared as a police officer in Night of the Creeps in 1986.
Details that are not reliably confirmed in the major sources reviewed include:
- Her current profession
- Her detailed educational history
- Her marital status
- The identity of a spouse, if applicable
- Whether she has children
- Her current residence
- Her personal net worth
- Her reasons for not pursuing a larger acting career
These gaps are not flaws in her story. They simply reflect the limited public documentation surrounding someone who has lived much of her adult life outside constant celebrity coverage.
Why People Still Search for Elizabeth Alda
Interest in Elizabeth Alda is driven by several overlapping factors. The most obvious is her relationship to Alan Alda, whose long career continues to introduce new audiences to the Alda family. Viewers researching Alan’s family naturally encounter the names of his three daughters.
Another reason is The Four Seasons. Because Elizabeth appears alongside both her father and her sister Beatrice, viewers often become curious about whether the younger performers were actually related to Alan Alda.
Finally, Night of the Creeps gives Elizabeth a connection to a completely different audience. Fans exploring the cast of the 1986 movie may encounter her name and discover the unexpected connection to the Alda family.
Her continued search interest therefore comes less from a large body of celebrity appearances and more from the intersection of family history, classic film, television and cult cinema.
Bottom Line
Elizabeth Alda is an American actress and the daughter of Alan and Arlene Alda. Born in New York City in 1960, she is best remembered for playing Beth Burroughs in Alan Alda’s 1981 film The Four Seasons. She later reprised the role in the television adaptation and appeared in the 1986 horror-comedy Night of the Creeps.
Her biography is unusual because her famous family background contrasts with her relatively limited public career. Unlike Alan Alda, who spent decades at the center of American film and television, Elizabeth accumulated only a small number of widely documented acting credits and subsequently maintained a low profile.
That privacy also means readers should be skeptical of websites claiming precise information about her marriage, children, finances, education or present career without reliable sourcing. Those aspects of Elizabeth Alda’s life are not sufficiently documented in authoritative public material reviewed for this article.
What remains clear is her place within the Alda family’s entertainment history. Through The Four Seasons in particular, Elizabeth shared the screen with her father and participated alongside her sister in a notable family-linked production. Her career may have been brief, but those appearances continue to keep her name connected to both classic American comedy-drama and 1980s cult cinema.
Frequently Asked Questions About Elizabeth Alda
Who is Elizabeth Alda?
Elizabeth Alda is an American actress and the daughter of actor, writer and director Alan Alda and author and photographer Arlene Alda. She is best known for playing Beth Burroughs in The Four Seasons.
When was Elizabeth Alda born?
Elizabeth Alda was born on August 20, 1960, in New York City, according to her professional biographical listing.
Is Elizabeth Alda Alan Alda’s daughter?
Yes. Elizabeth is one of Alan and Arlene Alda’s three daughters. Her sisters are Eve Alda Coffey and Beatrice Alda.
What movies was Elizabeth Alda in?
Her best-known movie credit is The Four Seasons (1981), in which she played Beth Burroughs. She also had a small role as a police officer in Night of the Creeps (1986).
Was Elizabeth Alda in The Four Seasons TV series?
Yes. Elizabeth reprised her role as Beth Burroughs in the 1984 television adaptation of The Four Seasons.
Is Elizabeth Alda married and does she have children?
Reliable major public sources reviewed for this article do not provide enough evidence to confirm Elizabeth Alda’s marital status or whether she has children. Claims giving specific details should therefore be treated cautiously unless supported by a dependable source.
What is Elizabeth Alda’s net worth?
Elizabeth Alda’s net worth has not been reliably disclosed or verified. Exact figures published by unsourced celebrity-wealth websites should not be treated as established fact.
