- Robert Preston, Illegal Traffic, 1937. The Ohioan Howard was in, then out and Preston was out, then in, as the undercover cop – unfortunately named Bent Martin – in the latest Paramount crime programmer. Based on “actual gleanings from insurance company records.”
- Ray Milland, I Wanted Wings, 1939. Howard nearly became Jeff Young when Milland seemed bogged down with other Paramount duties. Yety, with a bound he was free to be the playboy training to be an US Army Air Corps pilot.
- Edmond O’Brien, A Guy, A Girl and a Gob, 1940. A surprisingly handsome O’Brien took over the Guy from Howard – best remembered for Lost Horizon, 1936, The Philadelphia Story, Bulldog Drummond and later, for his WWII heroics in the US Navy.
- Fredric March, Victory, 1940. Joseph Conrad’s tropical island hermit called Hendrik Heyst was first to be played by John Howard as Paramount tried to make a star of him. Next came Charles Boyer and finally March. Cecil C De Mille rejected the project. “I managed to read it all… Just not interesting enough to bother with a film.” And yet the Harrison’s Reports called it “somewhat sordid… somewhat brutal.” So right up CB’s street!
- Frank Albertson, It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.
Birth year: 1913Death year: 1995Other name: Casting Calls: 5