Trevor Howard
Actor
Biography
Howard 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".
Filmography
Superman II
as Krypton Elder (archive footage) (uncredited) 1980
Gandhi
as Judge Broomfield 1982
The Third Man
as Major Calloway 1949
Brief Encounter
as Dr. Alec Harvey 1945
Around the World in 80 Days
as Denis Fallentin 1956
Mutiny on the Bounty
as Capt. William Bligh 1962
Battle of Britain
as Air Vice Marshal Keith Park 1969
Von Ryan's Express
as Major Eric Fincham 1965
Father Goose
as Commander Frank Houghton 1964
Ludwig
as Richard Wagner 1973
The Count of Monte-Cristo
as Abbé Faria 1975
The Offence
as Lieutenant Cartwright, Detective Superintendant 1973
Ryan's Daughter
as Father Collins 1970
Meteor
as Sir Michael Hughes 1979
Operation Crossbow
as Professor Lindemann 1965
Green for Danger
as Dr. Barnes 1946