Clint Howard

Clint Howard
Howard at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2022
Born	Clinton Engle Howard (1959-04-20) April 20, 1959 Burbank, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–present
Spouses	Ann Marie Lynch ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 1989)​ Melanie Sorich ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 2017)​ Katherine Cruz ​ ​ (m. 2020)​
Parents	Rance Howard (father) Jean Speegle Howard (mother)
Relatives	Ron Howard (brother) Bryce Dallas Howard (niece) Paige Howard (niece)

Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His 200-plus acting credits include feature films such as The Waterboy and Apollo 13, as well as television series, such as Gentle Ben, The Baileys of Balboa, The Cowboys, My Name Is Earl, and several entries in the Star Trek franchise. He has appeared in many films directed by his brother, Ron, and had a small role in the 1967 animated film The Jungle Book. He is lead singer of his own band, The Kempsters, and also makes custom snow globes.

Early life

Born in Burbank, California, Clint's parents were actors Rance Howard and Jean Speegle and his older brother is actor and filmmaker Ron Howard.

Career

Television

Clint in Gentle Ben (1967)

Howard began his career when he was two, appearing in five episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, then starring his older brother Ron. He played Leon, a toddler in a cowboy outfit who wandered around Mayberry and silently offered people a bite of his sandwich, to which they would respond, "No thanks, Leon". Other early notable roles include his appearance on The Streets of San Francisco in the episode entitled "The House on Hyde Street", and The Virginian as Tommy, the proud owner of a new litter of pups in the episode entitled "Melanie".

In 1963, Howard appeared in the ABC medical drama Breaking Point in the role of four-year-old Mikey in the episode "The Gnu, Now Almost Extinct". He also played little Billy Taft, the nephew of Dr. Richard Kimble, in the season one episode of The Fugitive, "Home is the Hunted" (1964).

Howard's first prominent role was as a regular on the series Gentle Ben (1967–69). He also starred in "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes", an episode segment of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, as Herbie, a ten-year-old boy who predicts the near future, and played Billy in the made for television version of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony, with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.

Howard appeared in various Star Trek episodes:

• In 1966, he appeared as the powerful but childlike alien Balok in "The Corbomite Maneuver," a season one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (although not the first episode broadcast, it was the first episode of season one to be produced after the pilot episodes). He briefly reprised the character in 2006 on Comedy Central's roast of William Shatner.
• "Past Tense Part II," a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
• "Acquisition," a season one episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
• "Will You Take My Hand," a season one episode of Star Trek: Discovery
• "Under the Cloak of War," a season two episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• As a nod to Howard's prominent place in Star Trek culture, he played a part in Star Trek director J. J. Abrams' series Fringe: in the season one episode "The Road Not Taken", as a man who thought he was the son of Sarek of Vulcan. He discussed a fictitious plot by Romulans from the future, much like the one in Abrams' own Star Trek film. (In the next episode, Leonard Nimoy was revealed to be the mysterious character he was discussing.)

In 2003, Howard played Johnny Bark on Arrested Development in the season one episode "Key Decisions", which was produced and narrated by his brother, Ron. He was seen in an episode of Married... with Children as a creepy janitor. He played a car thief/murderer Tobias Lehigh Nagy in the season four Seinfeld episode "The Trip". Howard played Creepy Rodney in the season one My Name Is Earl episode "Stole a Badge", and he was a guest star in the season three episode of the NBC show Heroes "I Am Sylar".

In 2024, Howard appeared on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful as Tom Starr, a homeless man who turned his life around, only to be murdered.

Film

In his film debut The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), he played a child party guest standing on a table at his birthday party.

Howard also voiced Roo in Disney's animated shorts Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), which were later incorporated into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), and Hathi Jr. in The Jungle Book (1967).

Howard has appeared in seventeen films directed by his brother, Ron, including his first directorial effort — a short film called Old Paint — when Clint was ten. He also starred in Ron's first full-length feature, Grand Theft Auto. Other roles in the elder Howard's films include: John Dexter in Cocoon (1985), Paul in Gung Ho (both film and TV series), pathologist Ricco in Backdraft (1991), Lou in Parenthood, Flynn in Far and Away (1992), flight controller Seymour Liebergot in Apollo 13 (1995), Ken in EDtv (1999), Whobris in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), and Harry the referee in Cinderella Man (2005).

Howard also played Sheriff Purdy in The Missing (2003), Lloyd Davis in Frost/Nixon (2008), Herbert Trimpy in The Dilemma, and Paul Lucas in the episodes "Spider" and "We Interrupt This Program" of the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, which was produced by Ron.

Howard played Eaglebauer in Rock 'n' Roll High School, Usher in Get Crazy, Paco in The Waterboy, Arthur Lynne in Uwe Boll's Heart of America, cellmate Slinky in Tango & Cash, KJZZ disk jockey in That Thing You Do!, Johnson Ritter in the Austin Powers series, another flight controller in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Nipples in Little Nicky (2000), Gregory Tudor in the low budget film Ice Cream Man (1995), Rughead in The Wraith (1986), Stanley Coopersmith in Evilspeak (1981), Kate the Caterer in The Cat in the Hat (2003), Doctor Koplenson in Halloween (2007), and appeared in the romantic comedies, Play the Game and Speed-Dating.

Howard played Sanders in Alabama Moon and Dr. Owen in Nobody Gets Out Alive, which was written and directed by Jason Christopher.

Howard appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which his brother Ron directed.

Music

In 1981, Howard formed The Kempsters, a new wave rock and roll group that was composed mostly of his friends who were neighbors with him on Kemp Street. The band played regularly at Madame Wong's West. The band retired in 1983. Although The Kempsters never released an album while together, Howard has recently begun distributing No Brains At All, a CD featuring four tracks the band recorded in various studios, and seven tracks recorded live on October 17, 1982, at Madame Wong's West.

Personal life

Howard has been married three times. After a short courtship, Howard married Ann Marie Lynch in 1988. He filed for divorce after less than a year of marriage. The couple had no children.

Howard's second marriage, in 1995, was to Melanie Sorich. He filed for legal separation in 2015, and their divorce was finalized in 2018. The couple had no children.

On July 1, 2020, Howard married Kat C. Cruz, at a private service in Las Vegas. They have a daughter, Rafa’ella Erlinda.

Howard was an avid golfer who played 150 rounds a year from 1990 until hip replacements forced him to quit.

In 2015, Howard began creating one-of-a-kind snow globes that are occasionally featured on entertainment programs. Howard brought one with him for his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (with, as a guest, his niece Bryce Dallas Howard).

Politics

Howard is a Republican (contrasting with his brother, Ron, a Democrat). On January 29, 2016, three days before the Iowa Caucuses, he endorsed United States Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for the Republican presidential nomination.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Child Party Guest	Uncredited
1966	Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree	Roo	Voice, short film
	An Eye for an Eye	Jo-Hi Quince, Brian's Son
1967	The Jungle Book	Hathi Jr.	Voice
	Gentle Giant	Mark Wedloe
1968	Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day	Roo	Voice, short film
1970	The Wild Country	Andrew Tanner
1973	Salty	Tim Reed
1976	Eat My Dust!	George Poole Jr.
1977	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	Roo	Voice
	Grand Theft Auto	"Ace"
	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden	Baseball Catcher
1978	Harper Valley PTA	Corley
1979	Rock 'n' Roll High School	Eaglebauer
1981	Evilspeak	Stanley Coopersmith
1982	Night Shift	Jefferey
1983	Get Crazy	Usher
1984	Splash	Wedding Guest
1985	Cocoon	John Dexter
1986	Gung Ho	Paul
	The Wraith	"Rughead"
1987	End of the Line	Les Sullivan
1988	Freeway	Ronnie
	B.O.R.N.	Jerry
1989	Parenthood	Lou
	Tango & Cash	"Slinky"
1990	Disturbed	Brian
	Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation	Ricky Baker
1991	Backdraft	Ricco, Medical Examiner
	The Rocketeer	Mark
	Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker	Ricky Baker
1992	Far and Away	Flynn
1993	Carnosaur	"Slim" Friar
	Ticks	Jarvis Tanner
1994	The Paper	Ray Blaisch
	Leprechaun 2	Tourist
	Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter	Gary
	Forced to Kill	Drifter
1995	Fist of the North Star	"Stalin"
	Ice Cream Man	Gregory Tudor
	Forget Paris	The Exterminator
	Digital Man	Dawkins
	Apollo 13	Sy Liebergot
	Not Like Us	Wede
	Twisted Love	Gardener
1996	Barb Wire	Schmitz
	Unhook the Stars	Gus
	That Thing You Do!	KJZZ Disc Jockey
	Santa with Muscles	Hinkley
1997	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	Johnson Ritter	(credited as "radar operator")
	The Protector	Hutch	aka Body Armor; Conway
1998	Twilight	EMS Worker
	The Dentist 2	"Mr. Toothache"
	Telling You	Customer	Uncredited
	The Waterboy	Paco
	Evasive Action	Hector "The Director" Miller
1999	EDtv	Ken
	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Johnson Ritter
2000	My Dog Skip	Millard
	The Million Dollar Kid	Harvey
	Little Nicky	"Nipples"
	Ping!	Stu
	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Whobris
2001	Blackwoods	Greg
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Johnson Ritter
	Heart of America	Artie Lynne
	100 Women	Mr. Willens
2003	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Pauly's Business Manager
	House of the Dead	Salish
	The Cat in the Hat	Kate, The Caterer
	The Missing	Sheriff Purdy
2004	Raising Genius	Mr. Goss
	The Sure Hand of God	Clyde Trotter
	I Am Stamos	Himself	Short film
2005	River's End	Mr. Powell
	My Big Fat Independent Movie	The Mechanic
	Cinderella Man	Referee
	Planet Ibsen	Henrik Ibsen
	Fun with Dick and Jane	INS Agent
2006	Church Ball	Gene Jensen
	The Powder Puff Principle	Principal Richard Skelter	Short film
	Curious George	Balloon Man	Voice
	How to Eat Fried Worms	Uncle Ed
	Big Bad Wolf	Fulton Chaney
2007	Music Within	The Clerk
	Halloween	Dr. Koplenson
	A Plumm Summer	Binky The Clown
	A Christmas Too Many	Todd
2008	Foreign Exchange	Larry "Long Larry"
	Frost/Nixon	Lloyd Davis
	Senior Skip Day	Lionel Huffer
2009	London Betty	The Narrator	Voice
	Play the Game	Dick
	Super Capers	Mugger
	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Air and Space Mission Control Tech #1
	Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!	Farmer Dan	Voice
	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Cthulhu	Voice
	Alabama Moon	Constable Sanders
2010	Holyman Undercover	Roy Sr.
	Speed-Dating	Dom
2011	The Dilemma	Herbert Trimpy
	Blubberella	Dr. Wolfgang Mangler
	BloodRayne: The Third Reich
	Night Club	Cliff
2012	Last Call	George
	The Lords of Salem	Carlo
	Nobody Gets Out Alive	Dr. Owen
2013	Assault on Wall Street	Chuck
	Huff	Karl
	Sparks	Gordon Eldridge
	The Profane Exhibit	Bob	Segment: "Basement"
2014	Bald	Nathan	Short film
	Sand Castles	Todd Carlson
	Balls Out	Philip
2015	The Funhouse Massacre	Taxidermist
2016	Guys and Girls Can't Be Friends	Gus
2017	Mad Families	"Gravy"
2018	The Church	Alexander James / The Spirit
	Solo: A Star Wars Story	Ralakili
	F**k You All: The Uwe Boll Story	Himself	Documentary film
2019	Grand-Daddy Day Care	Judge Littles
	Play the Flute	Mr. Webber
	Apple Seed	Hughie
	3 from Hell	Mr. Baggy Britches
	American Christmas	Lee
2020	American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules	Joe
2023	The Old Way	Eustice
2024	Terrifier 3	"Smokey"

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962–1964	The Andy Griffith Show	Leon / Boy At Church Social (uncredited)	5 episodes
1963	Breaking Point	Mikey	Episode: "The Gnu, Now Almost Extinct"
1964	Vacation Playhouse	Little Boy	Episode: "Hey, Teacher"
1964–1965	The Baileys of Balboa	Stanley	26 episodes
	The Fugitive	Billy Taft / Johnny Stransel	Episodes: "Home Is the Hunted" / "Set Fire to a Straw Man"
1965	Bonanza	Michael Thorpe	Episode: "All Ye His Saints"
1966	The Patty Duke Show	Ralphie	Episode: "Three Little Kittens"
1965–1966	Please Don't Eat the Daisies	David / Davey	3 episodes
1965–1970	The F.B.I.	Alan Ellwood / Josh Cobb	Episodes: "An Elephant Is Like a Rope" / "Incident in the Desert"
1966–1971	The Virginian	Will / Tommy / Manuel	3 episodes
1966	The Jean Arthur Show	Robbie Fielding	Episode: "My Client, the Rooster"
	Star Trek: The Original Series	Balok	S1:E10, "The Corbomite Maneuver"
	Laredo	Midj	Episode: "Leave It to Dixie"
1967	The Monroes	Jody Larson	Episode: "Teaching the Tiger to Purr"
	Judd for the Defense	Tim Oliver	Episode: "A Civil Case of Murder"
1967–1969	Gentle Ben	Mark Wedloe	56 episodes
1970	Lancer	Willie Sharpe	Episode: "Blue Skies for Willie Sharpe"
	Love, American Style	David Kaufman	Episode: "Love and the Coed Dorm/Love and the Optimist/Love and the Teacher"
	The Red Skelton Show	Lemonade Stand Proprietor	Episode: "Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make: So They Added Iron Bars"
	The Odd Couple	Randy Granger	Episode: "The Big Brothers"
	Family Affair	Tom Richards	Episode: "Say Uncle"
1971	Gunsmoke	Lonny	Episode: "Murdoch"
	The Mod Squad	Davey Carr	Episode: "The Price of Love"
	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Kimmy Rolf	Episode: "Tender Comrade"
	Night Gallery	Herbie Bittman	"The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes"
	Nanny and the Professor	Timmy McGovern	Episode: "One for the Road"
1971–1973	Insight	Larry Gilprin	2 episodes
1973	The Rookies	Dennis Palmer	Episode: "Crossfire"
	The Red Pony	Jody Tiflin	Television film
1973–1974	The Streets of San Francisco	Billy Rudolph	2 episodes
1974	Doc Elliot	Paul Scarne	Episode: "A Small Hand of Friendship"
	The Cowboys	Steve	12 episodes
	Movin' On	Mark / Henry	Episodes: "Life Line" / "The Trick is to Stay Alive"
1975	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Andrew	Episode: "Wild Country: Part 2"
1975	Huckleberry Finn	Arch	Television film
1976–1980	Happy Days	"Moose"	2 episodes
1977	The Death of Richie	"Peanuts"	Television film
1978	The Fitzpatricks	D'Annunzio	Episode: "A Living Wage"
	Cotton Candy	Corky MacPherson	Television film
1982	Lou Grant	Jerry Kovacovich	Episode: "Recovery"
1986–1987	Gung Ho	"Googie"	9 episodes
1987	Sledge Hammer!	Police Officer	Episode: "State of Sledge"
	Santa Barbara	Marshall	Episode: "#1.677"
1990	Hunter	Man In Restaurant	Episode: "Kill Zone"
1992	Seinfeld	Tobias Lehigh Nagy	Episode: "The Trip" Part 2
1993–1994	Space Rangers	Mimmer	6 episodes
1994	Cheyenne Warrior	Otto Nielsen	Television film
1995	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Grady	Episode: "Past Tense"
	Married... with Children	Mullen	Episode: "And Bingo Was Her Game-O"
	Silk Stalkings	Craig P. Sykes	Episode: "Kill Shot"
1996	The Outer Limits	Dennis	Episode: "First Anniversary"
	Humanoids from the Deep	Deputy	Television film
1997	Gun	The Homeless Guy	Episode: "The Shot"
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Paul Lucas	Miniseries
	Addams Family Reunion	Dogcatcher (uncredited)	Television film
1999	Total Recall 2070	Pontifex	Episode: "Baby Lottery"
	The Pretender	"Smitty"	Episode: "Qallupilluit"
	Arthur's Quest	Mr. Whitney	Television film
2002	Star Trek: Enterprise	Muk	Episode: "Acquisition"
	Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa	Tug	Voice, television film
2003	Crossing Jordan	Gil Runkis	Episode: "The First Six Years"
2003–2013	Arrested Development	Johnny Bark	2 episodes
2006–2008	My Name Is Earl	Rodney "Creepy Rodney"	2 episodes
2009	Heroes	Tom Miller	Episode: "I Am Sylar"
	Fringe	Emmanuel Grayson	Episode: "The Road Not Taken"
2011	Workaholics	Replacement For Adam Demamp	Episode: "The Strike"
2013	Call Me Crazy: A Five Film	Harold	Television film; segment: "Lucy"
	Hawaii Five-0	Superintendent	Episode: "Kupouli 'la"; uncredited
2014	Key and Peele	Aerobics Director	Episode: "Aerobics Meltdown"
	The Birthday Boys	Traffic Control Operator	Episode: "Plight of the Working Class"
2016	Still the King	Dave "Crazy Dave"	2 episodes
2018	Star Trek: Discovery	Orion Drug Dealer	Episode: "Will You Take My Hand?"
2019	Those Who Can't	Howard	Episode: "Grisly Man"
2021	Just Roll with It	Adrian Rose	Episode: "Warlock World: War of the Warlocks"
2023	Star Trek: Strange New Worlds	Commander Buck Martinez	Episode: "Under the Cloak of War"
2024	The Bold and the Beautiful	Tom Starr	Recurring role

Podcasts

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020–2021	The Shadow Diaries	Dr. Richard Summers	Voice role

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
1998	Tex Murphy: Overseer	Larry Hammond

External links

• Clint Howard at IMDb
• Clint Howard at AllMovie
• Howard, Ron and Clint (November 30, 2017). "Ron and Clint Howard Remember Dad Rance's 'Enthusiasm, Dignity and Fearlessness' (Guest Column)". Variety.