Early life

Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo (née Tomlin) and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married actress Jean Speegle Howard in Burbank, California in 1949. Their sons are actor/director Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard. He is also the grandfather of actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard. His son Ron was born while he served three years in the United States Air Force.

Acting career

Howard attended the University of Oklahoma, where he went to drama school. His professional acting career began in 1948 when he went to New York City, auditioned and landed a job in a children's touring company. The role that got him noticed nationally TV and film was playing the part of Lindstrom in the touring company of the play Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda in 1950, playing the character for about a year-and-a-half in major cities across the U.S.

Both Rance and oldest son Ron, who was 2 at the time, made their feature film debuts together in the 1956 western Frontier Woman. Later in the 1950s, Rance's roles included his TV debut in the series Kraft Theatre, on which he appeared three times in 1956-57.

After son Ron went on to play Opie in The Andy Griffith Show in the early 1960s, Rance had guest parts in five episodes of the show. Howard was known best for his role on television in 25 episodes of the 1960s TV series Gentle Ben—which starred his youngest son Clint—as Henry Broomhauer, a backwoodsman who befriended the family. Another well-known TV role was on Babylon 5, in which he had a recurring role as David Sheridan, the father of Babylon 5 captain John Sheridan. He also starred in the short-lived 2000 TV series Driving Me Crazy. His television guest appearances include Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Kung Fu, The Waltons, CBS Schoolbreak Special 1986 episode "The Drug Knot", Angel, 7th Heaven, Cold Case, That's So Raven, and two appearances on Seinfeld (both as different characters). On The Waltons, Howard portrayed Dr. McIver in five different episodes, one of which included Ron.

Howard has acted in over 100 films, including the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke, The Music Man (in an uncredited bit part playing "Oscar Jackson"), and many other films. He also appeared as Dottie and Kit's father in A League of Their Own. In 2013, he played Woody Grant's brother in Nebraska. He often takes parts as a priest or minister, county sheriff, or western marshal, and has made numerous appearances in films by Joe Dante.

Howard has acted in most of his son Ron's films including Splash, Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon. The exceptions are Night Shift, Willow, Backdraft, Ransom, EDtv, and The Da Vinci Code.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1967	Cool Hand Luke	Sheriff	Uncredited
1967	Gentle Giant	Tater Coughlin
1974	Chinatown	Irate Farmer
1974	Where the Lilies Bloom	Roy Luther
1977	Grand Theft Auto	Ned Slinker	Directed by son Ron
1978	Cotton Candy	Mr. Bremmercamp	Directed by son Ron
1984	The Lonely Guy	Minister
	Splash	McCollough	Directed by son Ron
1985	Cocoon	St. Petersburg Detective	Directed by son Ron
	The Long Hot Summer	Wilk
1986	Gung Ho	Mayor Conrad Zwart	Directed by son Ron
1987	Innerspace	Supermarket Customer
1989	The 'Burbs	Detective #2
	Parenthood	Dean at College	Directed by son Ron
1992	Far and Away	Tomlin	Directed by son Ron
	Universal Soldier	John Devreux
1992	Ticks	Sheriff Parker
1994	Ed Wood	Old Man McCoy
	Little Giants	Minister
	The Paper	Alicia's Doctor	Directed by son Ron
1995	Apollo 13	Reverend	Directed by son Ron
	Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest	Eddie Calhoun
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	Ralph Hargrove
	Independence Day	Chaplain
	Mars Attacks!	Texan Investor
	Sgt. Bilko	Mr. Robbins
1997	Traveller	Farmer
1998	Small Soldiers	Husband
	Psycho	Mr. Lowery
2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Elderly Timekeeper	Directed by son Ron
2001	A Beautiful Mind	White-Haired Patient	Directed by son Ron
	A Crack in the Floor	Floyd Fryed
	Joe Dirt	Bomb Squad Cop
	Rat Race	Feed the Earth Spokesman
2002	Back by Midnight	Priest
	D-Tox	Geezer
2003	The Missing	Telegraph Operator	Directed by son Ron
2004	The Alamo	Governor Smith
	Eulogy	Lance Sommers
2005	Cinderella Man	Announcer Al Fazin	Directed by son Ron
2007	Georgia Rule	Dog Bite Man
	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Preacher
2008	Drillbit Taylor	Older Man
	Frost/Nixon	Ollie	Directed by son Ron
2009	Angels & Demons	Cardinal Beck	Directed by son Ron
2010	Jonah Hex	Telegrapher
	Valentine's Day	Bistro Gardens Diner
2011	The Dilemma	Burt	Directed by son Ron
	Spooky Buddies	Mr. Joseph Johnson
2013	Nebraska	Uncle Ray
	The Lone Ranger	Engineer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Other Notes
1956-1957	Kraft Television Theatre	Various	3 episodes
1958	How to Marry a Millionaire	Corporal	1 episode
1959	Bat Masterson	Fletcher	1 episode
1962-1964	The Andy Griffith Show	Various	4 episodes
1966	That Girl	Customer #2	1 episode
1966	The Virginian	Luka	1 episode
1967	The Monroes	Al	1 episode
1967-1969	Gentle Ben	Henry Boomhauer	13 episodes
1970	Then Came Bronson	Mr. Carl Mueller	1 episode
1971	Night Gallery	Cameraman	1 episode
1971-1972	Bonanza	Sam/Bogardus	2 episodes
1968	The F.B.I.	Ranger	1 episode
1969	Kung Fu	Sheriff Byrd	1 episode
1973-1975	The Waltons	Dr. McIvers	5 episodes
1974	Gunsmoke	Frank Benton	1 episode
1976-1979	Happy Days	Announcer/Ben Wilson/Mr. Burkhart	3 episodes
1977	Little House on the Prairie	Simpson	1 episode
1978	Battlestar Galactica	Farnes	1 episode
1979	Laverne & Shirley	Doctor	1 episode
1981	Mork & Mindy	Guard	1 episode
1983	The Thorn Birds	Doctor	Miniseries
1984	Dynasty	Gifford	1 episode
1984	Murder, She Wrote	Fillmore	1 episode
1986	A Smoky Mountain Christmas	Doctor
1989-1992	Baywatch	Fireman/Joe	2 episodes
1989	B.L. Stryker	Richard Walton	1 episode
1991	Quantum Leap	Ring Doctor	1 episode
1993	Coach	Herman Van Dam	1 episode
1993-1996	Seinfeld	Blind Man/Farmer	2 episodes
1994	Diagnosis Murder	Driver	1 episode
1996-1997	Babylon 5	David Sheridan	3 episodes
1996-1997	Married... with Children	Edwin/Reverend	2 episodes
1996	Melrose Place	Motel Manager	1 episode
1998	Clueless	Mr. Bell	2 episodes
1998	Two of a Kind	Mr. Fillmore	2 episodes
1999	Just Shoot Me!	Blind Flower Guy	1 episode
2000	7th Heaven	Old Man in Park	1 episode
2001	Angel	Marcus Roscoe/Angel	1 episode
2004	Cold Case	Buddie	1 episode
2004	That's So Raven	Murphy	1 episode
2005	Ghost Whisperer	Dirk Abrams	1 episode
2006	CSI: NY	Samuel Cooper	1 episode
2009	ER	Dr. Oliver Kostin	1 episode
2009	Lie to Me	Joe Metz	1 episode
2011	Workaholics	Jerry	1 episode
2012	Grey's Anatomy	Martin Carroll	1 episode
2013	NCIS: Los Angeles	Eugene	1 episode
2014	Bones	Jerold Norsky	2 episodes
2014	Kroll Show	Dr. Stanley Armond	1 episode
2014	Review	Willie	1 episode
2016	The X-Files	Old Man	1 episode

[ Source: Wikipedia ]