Harold Rance Beckenholdt, better known as Rance Howard, was an American actor, who starred in film and on television. He was the father of actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard and the grandfather of actress Bryce Dallas Howard. For Disney, Howard played McCullough in Splash, Murphy in That's So Raven, a preacher in Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Chuck in Terminal Velocity, Old Man McCoy in Ed Wood, an employer in Children of the Corn 3: Urban Harvest, Governor Smith in The Alamo, Al Fazin in Cinderella Man, Ely in Happy, Texas, Max the Engineer in The Lone Ranger, and Joseph Johnson in Spooky Buddies. He also provided stunts for Terminal Velocity.
Early life and career[]
Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to “Rance Howard” when he became an actor. He graduated from Shidler High School in 1946 and studied at the University of Oklahoma. While in the Air Force, Howard directed plays in Special Services, a unit that provided entertainment for service members. 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 for television and film was playing the part of Lindstrom in the touring company of the play Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda in 1950, portraying the character for about a year-and-a-half in major cities across the U.S. Both Rance and elder son Ron, who was two at the time, made their feature-film debuts together in the 1956 Western film 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 starring his younger son, Clint.
Howard played Henry Boomhauer, 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, the CBS Schoolbreak Special 1986 episode "The Drug Knot", Angel, 7th Heaven, Cold Case, and That's So Raven. Additionally, Howard had two appearances on Seinfeld as different characters.
Personal life and death[]
Howard married Jean Speegle Howard in 1949, and they had two sons, Ron and Clint. Jean died in 2000, and Howard married Judy Howard in 2001. Judy died in 2017, eight days before Howard's death. Howard had four grandchildren, actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard, and Reed Howard and Jocelyn Howard. He also had two great-grandchildren, Theo Howard Gabel and Beatrice Howard. Howard died of heart failure on November 25, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 89. He was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
