‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: Clint Howard Talks Returning to Soaps After Nearly 40 Years

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On April 26, Clint Howard will make his debut on The Bold and the Beautiful as Tom, a homeless man who Deacon (Sean Kanan) and Finn (Tanner Novlan) encounter in their pursuit of solving a mystery. For the veteran performer, adding the credit to his resumé was a welcome change. “This is a surprising turn of events for me,” Howard admits. “I have never been a big soap opera guy, but to be on The Bold and the Beautiful, that’s a notch in my gun belt.”

This isn’t Howard’s first time on a soap — he appeared on Santa Barbara as a character named Marshall for a handful of episodes in 1987. His most vivid memory of the experience was working alongside A Martinez (ex-Cruz Castillo).

“A Martinez was an actor that I worked with a long, long time ago, in the mid-’70s, on a TV series called The Cowboys,” he relays. “It was based on the movie. A was in the movie and ABC tried to make a TV series out of it and they hired me to be one of the seven cowboys. So I became friends with A and we worked together and he seemed like a nice, jovial guy. Later on, he had landed this soap opera and then when I found out they were going to use me for a couple of episodes, I thought, ‘That’s great. Hanging out a little bit with A.’ In the soap opera world, there’s very little hanging out. When you have a 7 a.m. call, you get right to work. You’re being rushed through makeup and wardrobe and you get called to the set and it’s chop chop chop. An interesting discipline as an actor; it’s definitely a different environment than I normally work in.”

THE COWBOYS, kneeling from left: Robert Carradine, A Martinez, standing from left: Clint Howard, Mitch Brown, Diana Douglas, Clay O’Brien, Sean Kelly, Kerry MacLane, on horses: Jim Davis, Moses Gunn, 1974 (Everett Collection)

Having already been on a soap set, however, Howard was aware of the challenge he faced. “As a 64-year-old man, I was certainly prepared for lots of dialogue,” he explains. “But I figured if I was playing this character of Tom, a homeless guy in an alley, he wouldn’t have miles and miles of dialogue to do. I’m certainly not afraid of miles and miles of dialogue so I figured I was up to it. So I thoroughly prepared as an actor. That’s one thing my dad taught me: No matter what, they’re hiring a professional to do a professional’s job and what I owe them is my best effort.”

Sean Smith / Bell Phillip TV Productions Inc.

Howard, who hails from a showbiz family, discovered he had fans of his work on set. “That’s really hard to avoid, having been in the business a long time,” he admits. “There were people that worked with me in the past and several people that came up and said they worked with my mom [Jean] and my dad [Rance] and that’s so wonderful. It gives me a chance to have conversations with them that are heartfelt and honest. The Howard family, we’ve been around a long time. My dad broke into the business in the early ’50s and of course [brother] Ron Howard came along and he started in 1957 or ’58 and we’ve got a few years under our belt.”

(Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Howard reports that he was on board to lean into the zanier elements of his storyline. “Listen, I kind of relish the opportunity to drop into the soap opera rhythm and fully embrace it as honestly I can,” he notes. “I have no idea what’s going to happen in the future, but the possibility of these characters revisiting this alley for further conversations with Tom is certainly in the future and I so enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed working with Sean; it was awesome.”

Though his appearance is brief, Howard says he would enjoy reprising the role of Tom. “Oh, I would love it,” he declares. “I love the people and the pace. When an actor first hears about doing a soap, you go, ‘It’s going to be a lot of dialogue and some of the dialogue is going to be stilted,’ but I shed all that. I’ve done almost everything in the world of entertainment — I’ve done comedies, I’ve done big-budgeted movies, I’ve done tiny, micro-movies, I’ve done experimental movies, I’ve done a boatload of shorts — but to do a soap opera is something I would enjoy. I’ve done my turn on Bold and Beautiful and I would love to do more.”

One thing he knows for sure: He will be sharing scenes with Kanan again soon. “Back in 1994, I acted in a movie called Ice Cream Man and it was a B horror movie and it was directed buy a guy named Norman Apstein,” he begins. “The movie came out and it didn’t do remarkably well, but it’s developed this cult following in the last 30 years and now it’s a cult classic. So me and my wife Kat and Norman have discussed for awhile, ‘Let’s do another Ice Cream Man; let’s bring more Ice Cream Man to the public,’ and as we go around and do horror conventions and make personal appearances, that just lights people’s eyes up. When they hear me talk about making another Ice Cream Man, people just go nuts. So that’s what we’re doing! Myself, Kat and Norman we are producing this movie and Sean has a wonderful role.

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He continues “It’s a delicious role; he plays a nightclub owner that encounters the Ice Cream Man and he’s really sleazy. That’s certainly not Sean but he can play that guy to a T. And there is a wonderful role for a vibrant, energetic detective who’s about 35 years old there’s a comic bent to it, and [my niece] Paige Howard fits that so well. We’ve had some readings of the script, loose readings as often happens, and she has really nailed it, along with Sean. We’re really gearing up to shoot this film by the summer of 2024.”

And brother Ron just might make an appearance, as well. “There’s another Howard, who if I remember correctly, I was in his first movie and I think we made a bargain a long time ago: “If I’ll be in your first movie, you’ll be in mine,’” he teases.

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