Trevor Howard Biography

Trevor Howard (born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith; 29 September 1913 " 7 January 1988) was an English film, stage and television actor.

Early life

Howard was born in Cliftonville, Kent, England. He was educated at Clifton College (to which he left a substantial legacy for a drama scholarship) and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), acting on the London stage for several years before World War II. His first paid work was in the play Revolt in a Reformatory (1934), before he left RADA in 1935 to take small roles. Although stories of his courageous wartime service in the Royal Corps of Signals earned him much respect among fellow actors and fans alike, files held in the Public Records Office reveal he had actually been discharged from the Army for mental instability and having a "psychopathic personality". The story, which surfaced in Terence Pettigrew's biography of the actor, published by Peter Owen in 2001, was initially denied by Howard's widow, Helen Cherry. Later, confronted with official records, she told the Daily Telegraph (24 June 2001) that his mother had claimed he was a holder of the Military Cross. She added that Howard had an honourable military record and "had nothing to be ashamed of."

Acting career

After a theatrical role in "The Recruiting Officer" (1943), Howard began also working with cinema with The Way Ahead (1944). His role in The Way Ahead came to the attention of David Lean who was looking for the someone to play the role of Alec in Brief Encounter. Lean recommended him to Noël Coward who agreed and the success of the film launched his career. In The Passionate Friends though, which also featured Ann Todd and Claude Rains, in which Howard played a similar character to Alec, was not as successful.

The Third Man (1949), in which he played the slightly dry, slightly crusty, but capable British military officer, Major Calloway, with which he would become associated secured his reputation. During filming in Vienna, Howard visited the fairground which was, at that time, under the jurisdiction of the Russians, where, still wearing the uniform of a British Army Major, he was promptly arrested. He was returned to the SIB after his true identity was ascertained. He also starred in The Key (1958; based on a Jan de Hartog novel) for which he received the best actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sons and Lovers (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Another notable film was The Heart of the Matter (1953), from another Graham Greene story.

Over time Howard shifted to being one of Britain's finest character actors. Howard's later works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Father Goose (1964), Morituri (1965), Von Ryan's Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Superman (1978), and Gandhi (1982). The Dawning (1988) was his final film. One of his strangest films, and one he took great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in which he played the title role.

While continuing to work in film and occasionally theater, he also found work in television, winning an Emmy award for his role as the titular figure in The Invincible Mr Disraeli (1963) and being nominated for another for The Count of Monte Cristo (1975), in which he played Abbé Faria.

He declined a CBE in 1982.

Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.

Death

He died on 7 January 1988, from a combination of bronchitis, influenza and jaundice, in Arkley, Barnet, aged 74, survived by his widow Helen.

Shakespeare

Howard left behind just two Shakespeare performances, the first, recorded in the 1960s, was as Petruchio opposite Margaret Leighton's Kate in Caedmon Records' complete recording of The Taming of the Shrew; the second was in the title role of King Lear for the BBC World Service in 1986.

Awards and nominations

Howard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Sons and Lovers (1960). He won one BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Key (1958) and was nominated four more times. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor " Miniseries or a Movie for Hallmark Hall of Fame: Invincible Mr. Disraeli in 1963 and received two other nominations, one as a lead and the other as a supporting actor. He also got three Golden Globe Award nominations.

A British government document leaked to the Sunday Times in 2003 shows that Howard was among almost 300 celebrities to decline honours.

Filmography

• The Way Ahead (1944)
• Brief Encounter (1945)
• The Way to the Stars (1945)
• I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
• Green for Danger (1946)
• They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
• So Well Remembered (1947)
• The Passionate Friends (1949)
• The Third Man (1949)
• Odette (1950)
• Golden Salamander (1950)
• The Clouded Yellow (1950)
• Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
• Outcast of the Islands (1952)
• The Gift Horse (1952)
• The Heart of the Matter (1953)
• La mano dello straniero (1954)
• Les amants du Tage (1955)
• The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
• Run for the Sun (1956)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
• Interpol (1957)
• Manuela (1957)
• A Day in Trinidad, Land of Laughter (1957) (narrator)
• The Key (1958)
• The Roots of Heaven (1958)
• Malaga (1960)
• Sons and Lovers (1960)
• The Lion (1962)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
• Man in the Middle (1963)
• Father Goose (1964)
• Operation Crossbow (1965)
• Von Ryan's Express (1965)
• Morituri (1965)
• The Liquidator (1965)
• The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
• Triple Cross (1966)
• Pretty Polly (1967)
• The Long Duel (1967)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
• Battle of Britain (1969)
• Ryan's Daughter (1970)
• Twinky (1970)
• Kidnapped (1971)
• The Night Visitor (1971)
• To Catch a Spy (1971)
• Mary, Queen of Scots (1972)
• The Offence (1972)
• Pope Joan (1972)
• Ludwig (1972)
• A Doll's House (1973) (TV)
• Who? (1973)
• 11 Harrowhouse (1974)
• Persecution (1974)
• Cause for Concern (1974) (narrator)
• Craze (1974)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) (TV)
• Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
• Hennessy (1975)
• Aces High (1976)
• Albino (1976)
• The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
• Eliza Fraser (1976)
• The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
• Babel Yemen (1977) (voice)
• Slavers (1978)
• Stevie (1978)
• Superman (1978)
• Meteor (1979)
• Hurricane (1979)
• The Shillingbury Blowers (1980)
• The Sea Wolves (1980)
• Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)
• Windwalker (1981)
• Light Years Away, also known as Les Années lumière (1981)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
• The Missionary (1982)
• Gandhi (1982)
• Flashpoint Africa (1984)
• Sword of the Valiant (1984)
• Dust (1985)
• Time After Time (1986)
• Foreign Body (1986)
• Shaka Zulu (1986)
• Peter the Great (TV series) (1986)
• White Mischief (1988)
• The Dawning (1988)
• The Unholy (1988)

Box office ranking in Britain

For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted him among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

• 1947 - 10th
• 1950 - 10th
• 1951 - 5th (11th overall)
• 1952 - 9th