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- The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he went on to study drama at RADA (due to his mother's insistence) and was voted best in his class following a performance in "Much Ado About Nothing". Spurning a Hollywood contract with Paramount he acted on the West End stage and with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from the mid-1930s, specialising in classical plays ranging from "Hamlet" and "Coriolanus" to "French without Tears", by Terence Rattigan. Howard was initially turned down for military service by both the RAF and the British Army but shortage of manpower led to his being called up in 1940 to serve as a second lieutenant with the Army Signal Corps. However, he neither saw action nor accumulated the illustrious wartime record (including winning the Military Cross) invented for him by his publicists. A 2001 biography by Terence Pettigrew claimed to have unearthed files from his war record which alleged that he was dismissed from service in 1943 due to 'mental instability'. Ironically, on screen, the actor was often cast as solid, unflappable British officers, perhaps reflecting his own personal credo of always feeling best when impersonating someone else.
Howard's career in films began quietly with small roles in The Way Ahead (1944) and Johnny in the Clouds (1945). He unexpectedly leapt to stardom in just his third outing as the stoic, decent Dr. Alec Harvey in David Lean's melancholic story of middle-class wartime romance, Brief Encounter (1945). Howard's mannered performance perfectly suited the required stiff-upper-lip mood of the film, his intensity and projected integrity more than compensating for his average looks. That 'jolly decent chap' persona continued on in another 'woman's picture', The Passionate Friends (1949), but Howard soon found his niche in more determined, worldly roles. He later admitted that "for years I was practically hounded by my first part in Brief Encounter. I loved the film, mind you, but the role wasn't me, at all" (Ottawa Citizen, February 17 1961). As a screen actor, Howard came of age in crime thrillers and war films, delivering his first genuine tour de force performance as a battle-hardened, cynical ex-pilot caught up in the world of post-war black market racketeering in I Became a Criminal (1947). His efficient, by-the-book intelligence officer, Major Calloway, in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) put him firmly on the map as a star character player.
Rasping-voiced and becoming increasingly craggy as the years went by, Howard contrasted archetypal authoritarians (seasoned army veteran Captain Thomson of The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), Captain William Bligh in the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Lord Cardigan in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)) with weaklings (best exemplified by morally corrupt, degenerate expatriate trader Peter Willems in Outcast of the Islands (1951) -- arguably one of Howard's finest performances); sympathetic victims (colonial cop Scobie, tormented by religious guilt in The Heart of the Matter (1953)) and obsessive, driven eccentrics (crusading elephant preservationist Morel in The Roots of Heaven (1958), the alcoholic, haunted Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980), and the weird Russian recluse of Light Years Away (1981)). In the midst of angst-ridden heroes, drunken clerics and assorted historical characters, ranging from Napoleon Bonaparte to Sir Isaac Newton, Howard even essayed a Cheyenne warrior returning from the dead to defend his family in Windwalker (1980). Remarkably, though he took on a score of eminently forgettable projects, it is difficult to fault a single one of his performances. Throughout his entire career he was never out of favour with audiences and never out of work.
As becoming one of the most British of actors, Howard was an ardent cricket supporter, member of the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club. He insisted on having a clause inserted in his contracts which allowed him leave from filming to attend test matches. A rather solitary man, he had few other hobbies (except, perhaps, a fondness for alcohol, which likely contributed to his death at the age of 74) and was reputedly modest about his accomplishments as an actor. He once declared "we don't have the Method School of acting in England. We simply read the script, let it seep in, then go put on whiskers - and do it" (New York Times, January 8 1988). - Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Trevor Wayne Howard has been writing music for film and television for over twenty years. Unique in his approach to composition, he often assembles combinations of unexpected genres to provide a fresh musical perspective to the art of filmmaking. Bringing to the table additional skills such as arranging, programming and songwriting, as well as being very fast at composing dramatic underscore, he has forged a strong foundation in crafting original, great-sounding music to picture.
A Pennsylvania native, residing just outside of Philadelphia, Trevor was heavily involved in writing, producing and performing in classic and progressive rock bands. Becoming more interested in composing longer, more involved instrumental music, he attended the esteemed Berklee College of Music, eventually earning a degree in Film Scoring.
After finishing at Berklee, he decided to relocate to Los Angeles to peruse a full-time career writing film and television music. Here, he found himself working with the several acclaimed film and TV composers. During this time, Trevor was afforded the opportunity to write music for such television series including "Judging Amy," "Going to California," "Making the Band," "Bug Juice" and some earlier seasons of "Bones." Not only did he provide countless pieces of original score for these shows, he also was successful in licensing a number of tracks in series such as "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "The Sopranos," "Ugly Betty," "Dog The Bounty Hunter" and "King of Queens" among many others.
Trevor's film projects include underscore for the intense documentary "The Irishman, The Rise and Fall of Danny Green," the independent horror film "Hallettsville" starring Gary Busey, and the Jenna Elfman-starring independent film, "Touched." More recently, he has had the opportunities to score music for up and coming filmmakers Patrick Coleman on the comedy, "Bumpy Rhodes" and Sam Coale on the Sci-fi short, "Bad Drones" and the endearing short, "Sea Change."
Trevor's more recent TV scoring endeavors include writing music for several award winning series such as "The Inspectors," on CBS, the Lifetime series, "Drop Dead Diva" as well as the Vanessa Williams starring series "Daytime Divas" on VH1 and the NBC sci-fi thriller "The Event." His company, SIC Music MGMT is committed to providing its clients professionally written, innovative original music. SIC Music also provides original music for interactive media, production libraries, programming, recording and mixing for local indie artists.- Howard Trevor was born on 25 September 1952 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Girly (1970), Christ Recrucified (1969) and The Wednesday Play (1964).
- Visual Effects
- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
- Trevor Howard is known for Blood Lodge (2012).
- Trevor Howard is known for Let's Be Evil (2016).
- Howard Trevor is known for Mummy's Boy (2000).
- Cinematographer
Trevor Howard is known for Death's a Toast (2024).