Howard the first

Prominent progeny aside, Duncan native leaves his mark on film

I hadn’t thought about Rance Howard in a quite some time. Not that I’ve ever thought of him often. It’s quite possible that you never think about him. Most likely because you don’t know who Rance Howard is.

But watching acclaimed writer/director Alexander Payne’s latest film, “Nebraska,” a certain hangdog face caught my eye. It was a joyful recognition. The faces that have always made the biggest impact on me are the ones that look like a topographical map, each deep, gravel road leading somewhere far more interesting than the smooth paved highways of the matinee idols. Give me Warren Oates, M. Emmet Walsh, late-career Tommy Lee Jones, and of course, the great Harry Dean Stanton. On a recent late night, too restless for sleep, I came across a new documentary about Stanton. It was so-so, but I could watch that face forever.

At this point, Rance Howard is known mostly for being the father of actor-turned-director Ron Howard. Harold Rance Beckenholdt came into the world on November 17, 1928, in Duncan, the county seat of Stephens County. The “Beckenholdt” name didn’t quite roll off the tongue, and it seemed awfully German in post-World War II America, so he lost it.

With a new-ish name and ambition to spare, Howard entered the world of early television, appearing in numerous shows. A son’s success overshadowing a father’s similar goals is not a new narrative. Rarely does it happen, though, when the father is in his early 30s and the son is just six. “The Andy Griffith Show” was huge. Opie became a household name almost overnight. The character remains so iconic that Howard reprised the role to help elect Barack Obama in a campaign ad in 2008. The show had been off the air for 40 years. It’s always been Ron, not Rance. But while Ron’s career went on to a supporting-character role in Mayberry and later in Milwaukee as the lead in “Happy Days,” Rance Howard took small “character” roles in some of the most iconic films and television shows of the era. “Chinatown,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Gunsmoke,” “Kung Fu,” and the list goes on and on.

By the late 1970s, as Ron Howard began to make the transition from actor to director, it was time to pay it forward. From his first feature, the Roger Corman-produced 1977 road movie “Grand Theft Auto,” Ron cast Rance in more than a dozen of his films, giving the elder Howard a ubiquity that has spanned my life, from “Splash” to “Cinderella Man,” and “Cocoon” to “Angels and Demons.” The best character actors have long careers and become omnipresent in the popular culture, recognizable if not entirely recognized.

Nearing 90, Rance Howard won’t be around forever, and it’s hard to imagine an obit headline that won’t read in one way or another, “Ron Howard’s Father Dies at…” That’s the nature of celebrity hierarchy. But, Rance Howard, through his workman-like output and willingness to stick it out for such a long time, has achieved a small sort of immortality. We’ll be seeing him for decades to come.

Rance at a Glance
The range in quality in Rance Howard filmography is wide, to say the least. In 2001 he appeared in both “A Beautiful Mind” (Academy Award-winner for Best Picture) and the David Spade vehicle, “Joe Dirt” (which currently holds an 11-percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes) as “White Haired Patient” and “Bomb Squad Cop,” respectively.

Rance Howard’s characters occasionally have names, but he’s often cast as “Minister,” “Reverend,” “Priest,” and “Chaplain.”

The Howard family Hollywood story continues with Ron’s daughter and Rance’s granddaughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. All three worked together in Ron’s films “Parenthood,” “Apollo 13,” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”