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Trevor Howard

Acting Born Sep 29, 1913 Cliftonville, Kent, England, UK 24 credits

Biography

Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was a British actor. He was born in Cliftonville, Kent, England, the son of Mabel Grey (Wallace) and Arthur John Howard. He was educated at Clifton College (to which he left in his will 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 British Army's Royal Corps of Signals earned him much respect among fellow actors and fans alike, files held in the Public Record Office reveal that he had actually been discharged from the British Army in 1943 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, actress 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".

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Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

as Self

Frontline

as Narrator (voice)
Film

Superman

as 1st Elder
Film

The Third Man

as Major Calloway

Curb Your Enthusiasm

as Abbé Faria

Full filmography

  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
  • Frontline (1983) as Narrator (voice)
  • Spécial cinéma (1974) as Self
  • The Dick Cavett Show (1968) as Self - Guest
  • Studio One (1948) as Vittorio
  • Tonight Starring Jack Paar (1957) as Self
  • Superman (1978) as 1st Elder
  • ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969) as The Abbot
  • The 20th Century Fox Hour (1955) as Doug Elliott
  • Sunday Night Theatre (1950) as Kellis
  • Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958) as Dr. Derek Lester
  • Superman II (1980) as Krypton Elder (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • Shaka Zulu (1986) as Lord Charles Somerset
  • The Third Man (1949) as Major Calloway
  • Peter the Great (1986) as Sir Isaac Newton
  • Gandhi (1982) as Judge Broomfield
  • Battle of Britain (1969) as Air Vice Marshal Keith Park
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) as Benjamin Disraeli
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) as Napoleon
  • Around the World in 80 Days (1956) as Denis Fallentin
  • George Washington (1984) as Lord Fairfax
  • Origins of the Mafia (1976) as Don Consalvo Saccone
  • Inside the Third Reich (1982) as Prof. Heinrich Tessenow
  • The Count of Monte-Cristo (1975) as Abbé Faria