My Favorite Carnie Ever: Clint Howard

A strange thing happened after I talked to Clint Howard last week. He mentioned the names of two character actors who he bonded with when he was younger. I had never heard of either of them offhand. One of them was very hard to figure out, because I wasn't sure I heard his name right. Strother Martin.

A couple nights later, I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--I am on a month-long Robert Redford movie marathon--and wouldn't you know it, there was Strother Martin. It's interesting how you can see the same actor over and over and not necessarily remember him by name, or even notice that you've already seen him in three other episodes of Bonanza. But there he is.

Clint reprising his role from Apollo 13 for Family Guy

Clint talked about the pressure of having one quick scene. He's become so well known and respected as a character actor that people have extreme high expectation of him obviously. He has to walk in and nail that scene, and make it stand out. People call him for small parts that are going to be memorable, whether you remember that you've seen him in 100 other movies or that he's Ron Howard's brother.

Clint told me about a time a couple of years ago when he had a part coming up in a movie as a Starbucks assistant manager who he kept describing to people as being like Barney Fife on steroids. "Everyone agreed with me," Clint said. Realizing that he does actually know Don Knotts, he decided to give him a call.

"I got a master class in comedy from him over the phone," Clint said. He spent about a half hour talking to Don about acting, things like the differences in delivery between Barney Fife and Mr. Furley from Three's Company.

"The things I learned, I will never forget," Clint said. "I am so grateful. It's sort of melancholy. He passed six months later." At the memorial, Don's daughter told Clint what a wonderful time her father had on the phone with Clint that day. Knotts had told his daughter that he was worried that he wasn't making sense though.

"You can't believe how spot on Don Knotts was," Clint said. "That's the insecurity of actors. Meanwhile, I was soaking it up like a sponge."

Clint in Gentle Ben

Here's the link to the article I wrote about Clint Howard:

He’s a character

 

Howard honored at the Big Bear Film Festival

By ARRISSIA OWEN TURNER
Reporter

Published: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 7:03 AM PDT

Clint Howard has a philosophy about his eclectic body of work as a character actor. He’s like a carnival worker with a booth on the midway.

“Every night people walk down the midway and they look at the various acts in the booths, and they are entertained,” Howard says. “I am just another actor in the carnival. If people want to walk by and drop a couple coins in the cigar box, that helps me put food on the table.

“I am an entertainer. It’s not that important. I am the same type of person who has the bearded lady in the carnival or the two-headed monkey, or who swallows swords. God gave me an interesting face and I have an interesting personality.”

Click below to read the full story:
http://bigbeargrizzly.net/articles/2010/09/08/community/arts_and_entertainment/doc4c86b890efdf0616414286.txt