Kip Niven was raised in Prairie Village, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City in affluent Johnson County), and graduated in 1963 from Shawnee Mission East High School. After spending a year at Baylor University, he changed his mind and entered the theater program at The University of Kansas, where he performed in dozens of plays.Niven has an impressive resume that includes films such as Magnum Force (1973), Earthquake (1974) and Midway (1976). He has performed on countless television shows, including memorable parts on The Waltons (1971), Law & Order (1990) and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993). He has also had roles on Broadway, in regional theater and episodic radio shows. He's probably best known for his three-year stint as Steve Marsh on the TV sitcom Alice (1976). Niven and the star of that series, actress Linda Lavin), married in 1982. The marriage was turbulent and they subsequently divorced.Kip was first married to Susan and had two children Jim and Kate. She tragically died in a car accident in 1981. He and his 3rd wife Beth live in Kansas and have a daughter Maggie, who was born in 1994. He also has two grandsons.Kip returned to the Kansas City area where he grew up in 1995 and continues to work in local theater and on a comedy radio show.