Clint Howard's Real Name: Clint Howard

Quick answer: He works as Clint Howard. TV Insider gives his birth as April 20, 1959, in Burbank, California, and myBurbank confirms he was born there in 1959. A Library of Congress record lists his birth name as Clinton E. Howard. That longer form appears in only one qualifying source. He is the younger brother of director Ron Howard and the son of actors Rance and Jean Howard.

Real name and early life

myBurbank says his parents, Rance Howard and Jean Howard (formerly Jean Speegle), met as aspiring actors at the University of Oklahoma and married in 1949. They moved from New York to Los Angeles in the late 1950s with young Ron so Rance could find more television work. The family settled in Burbank, where Clint was born.

The Los Angeles Times says Clint is five years younger than Ron. Their parents sent the boys to Burbank public schools and held most of their earnings in trust. myBurbank says both boys started acting before they could read, coached by their father on how to perform naturally.

Career highlights

TV Insider says he was cast at three in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as Leon, the little boy with a peanut butter sandwich, while Ron played Opie. At five he was a regular on The Baileys of Balboa. In 1967 he played Mark Wedloe, an orphan who adopts a bear, in Gentle Giant, which led to the series Gentle Ben (1967–69). myBurbank notes that he also played Balok in the Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver."

When Ron made his directing debut with Grand Theft Auto (1977), he cast Clint. The brothers co-wrote the TV film Cotton Candy (1978). Clint went on to appear in many of Ron's films, including Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), and Apollo 13 (1995), TV Insider says. myBurbank adds TV appearances on Seinfeld and My Name Is Earl. The LA Times credits him with more than 250 acting roles. TV Insider reports that he later joined The Bold and the Beautiful, returning to soaps after nearly 40 years.

In 2021 the brothers published a joint memoir, The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family. AP says they were prompted to write it by the 2017 death of their father, and the LA Times says Tom Hanks encouraged the project. AP describes the book as "wholesome, earnest" and dedicated to their parents.

Name notes for searchers

Clint is the short form of Clinton, the first name in the Library of Congress record. Searches for Clinton Howard or Clinton E. Howard refer to the same actor. AP notes that it was Ron, not Clint, who played Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham.