Oft-honored stage actor Alan Howard began his career on the boards in his native England, debuting in a 1958 Coventry production of "Half in Earnest" and becoming an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company nearly a decade later in 1967 after his first season there. He worked his way through the canon at RSC, playing title roles in "Hamlet", "Henry IV, Parts I and II", "Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III", "Coriolanus", "Richard II" and "Richard III", as well as leading parts in "Twelfth Night", "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Antony and Cleopatra". Howard's Broadway debut came as Theseus and Oberon in a 1971 RSC production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and he returned to the Great White Way as a university professor enamored of the Nazis in "Good" (1982), for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Play. In 1997, he and Ben Kingsley received excellent notices in "Waiting for Godot".
Though primarily a stage actor, the tall, thin blond Howard made his feature debut in "Victim" (1961) and played small roles in such engaging films as "The V.I.P.s" (1963) and "The Americanization of Emily" (1964). He assumed perhaps his highest screen profile as Michael, the seducer of a gangster's spouse (Helen Mirren) in Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" (1989), although more American audiences may have seen his outstanding bit as Rob Lowe's tutor Simon Rutledge in the lighter fare of "Oxford Blues" (1984). More recently, he was the priggish brother-in-law in "The Secret Rapture" (1993). His TV credits include "Notorious Woman" (PBS, 1975), "Double Helix" (A&E, 1987), six episodes of "Frederick Forsyth Presents" (USA Network, 1990-91) and "Anna Lee: Headcase" (A&E, 1994).
Family
Education
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Ardingly College, West Sussex, England
Milestones
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1958 Worked as a stage hand and assistant stage manager at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, England; made acting debut there as Footman in "Half in Earnest"
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1959 London stage debut as Frankie Bryant in "Roots"
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1961 Feature debut as Frank in "Victim"
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1966 First performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of "Twelfth Night", "Henry V" and "The Revenger's Tragedy"
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1967 Became an associate artist at the RSC
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1969 Earned the London Theatre Critics Award for Most Promising Actor
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1970 Played title role in Trevor Nunn's "Hamlet", Mephistopholes in "Doctor Faustus", Ceres in "The Tempest" and Theseus and Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
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1971 Broadway debut, reprising Theseus and Oberon
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1975 Acted the part of Prince Hal in "Henry IV, Parts I and II"
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1975 First appearance on American TV, "Notorious Woman", broadcast as episodes of "Masterpiece Theatre" (PBS)
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1977 Portrayed the title roles in "Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III" and "Coriolanus"
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1981 Portrayed John Halder, a university professor becoming a Nazi, in "Good"
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1982 Reprised "Good" role on Broadway; earned Tony nomination
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1984 Played Simon Rutledge in "Oxford Blues"
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1987 Acted the part of Maurice Wilkins in TV movie, "Double Helix", about the men who identified DNA
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1989 Acted opposite Helen Mirren and Michael Gambon in "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover"; played the titular "lover"
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1989 Co-starred in David Hare's "Strapless"
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1989 Portrayed Oliver Cromwell in Richard Lester's "The Return of the Three Musketeers"
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1991 Narrated "Fuhrer: Seduction of a Nation" (PBS)
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1993 Last feature to date, "The Secret Rapture", adapted from David Hare's play
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1994 Acted in "Anna Lee: Headcase", an A&E movie
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1996 Starred in the National Theater productions of "Oedipus Tyrranos" and "Oedipus at Colonus"
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1997 Co-starred with Ben Kingsley in a West End revival of "Waiting for Godot"
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Played title roles in "Richard II" and "Richard III"
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Portrayed Sam McCready in six episodes of "Frederick Forsyth Presents" (USA Network)