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”.

1962 • TV

1983 • TV

1968 • TV

1974 • TV

1982 • Movie

1978 • Movie
as Judge Broomfield
as 1st Elder
as Lieutenant Cartwright, Detective Superintendant
as Commander Frank Houghton
as Dr Stirry
as Comdr. Rice
as Lt. Cmdr Hugh Alginon Fraser
as Major Calloway
as The Abbot
as Dr. Alec Harvey
as Professor Lindemann
as Lieutenant Colonel Silkin
as Freddie Young (Distinguished Civilian)
as Jack Soames
as Colonel Statter
as Colonel Azarin
as Abbé Faria
as Father Malone
as Richard Wagner
as Lord Henry Ames
as Self
1 episodes
as Narrator (voice)
1 episodes
as Self - Guest
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Vittorio
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Doug Elliott
1 episodes
as Lord Charles Somerset
10 episodes
as Kellis
1 episodes
as Dr. Derek Lester
1 episodes
as Sir Isaac Newton
4 episodes
as Mavor
1 episodes
as Benjamin Disraeli
1 episodes
as Napoleon
1 episodes
as Prof. Heinrich Tessenow
2 episodes
as Lord Fairfax
3 episodes
as Dan 'Saltie' Wicklow
6 episodes
as Sir Daniel Penwarden
1 episodes
as Don Consalvo Saccone
5 episodes
as Richard Wagner
5 episodes