Trevor Howard was an English actor. After varied stage work, he achieved
wide acclaim in the film of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, followed by
The Third Man. This led to many popular appearances on film and TV. His
distinguished war record is claimed to have been fabricated.
Early life Howard was born in Cliftonville, Kent,
England. He was educated at Clifton College and at the Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art, acting on the London stage for several years before World War II.
His first paid work was in the play Revolt in a Reformatory, 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 Record Office reveal that
he had actually been discharged from the 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, Helen Cherry. Later, confronted with
official records, she told the Daily Telegraph 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 Howard began working in films with The Way Ahead. His role in
The Way Ahead came to the attention of David Lean, who was looking for someone
to play the role of Alec in Brief Encounter. Lean recommended him to Noël
Coward, who agreed with the suggestion, and the success of the film launched
Howard's film career. However, The Passionate Friends, in which Howard
played a character similar to Alec, was not as successful.
The Third Man, in which Howard played the slightly dry, slightly crusty, but
capable British military officer Major Calloway, secured his reputation. During
filming in Vienna Howard visited the fairground, which was, at that time,
under the jurisdiction of the Soviet military, where, still wearing the
uniform of a British Army Major, he was promptly arrested. He was returned to
the British military police's Special Investigation Branch after his true
identity was ascertained. Howard also starred in The Key, for
which he received the Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and
Television Arts, and in Sons and Lovers, for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Actor. Another notable film was The Heart of the
Matter, which, like The Third Man, was based on a story by Graham Greene.
Over time Howard shifted to being a character actor. His later work included
such films as Mutiny on the Bounty, Father Goose, Morituri, Von Ryan's
Express, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Battle of Britain, Ryan's
Daughter, Superman, and Gandhi. By the time of filming White Mischief on
location in Kenya in 1987, Howard was seriously ill from alcoholism. The
company wanted to fire him, but co-star Sarah Miles was determined that Howard's
distinguished film career would not end that way. In an interview with Terence
Pettigrew for his biography of Howard, she describes how she gave an ultimatum
to the executives, threatening to quit the production if they got rid of him.
The Dawning was his final film. One of his strangest films, and one he took
great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, in which he
played the title role. His wife, Helen Cherry, starred with him in the film 11
Harrowhouse. While continuing to work in films and
occasionally in stage plays, Howard also found work in television, winning an
Emmy award for his role as the title figure in The Invincible Mr Disraeli and
being nominated for another Emmy for The Count of Monte Cristo, in which he
played Abbé Faria. Howard declined the award of Commander
of the Order of the British Empire in 1982.
Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all his contracts include
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. He won one BAFTA Award for Best
Actor in a Leading Role for The Key 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
= 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 – 2nd
1951 – 5th 1952 – 9th
References References and sources
Munn, Michael. Trevor Howard: The Man and his Films. Robson Books Ltd. ISBN
978-0860515395. Knight, Vivienne. Trevor Howard: A
Gentleman and a Player. Muller, Blond & White. ISBN 978-0584111361.
Pettigrew, Terence. Trevor Howard: A Personal Biography. Peter Owen. ISBN
978-0720611243. External links
Trevor Howard at the Internet Movie Database
Trevor Howard at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
Trevor Howard papers archived at Bristol University
Trevor Howard at Find a Grave