Paramount

Howard became a contract player for Paramount under the name of "Jon Cox". He appeared uncredited in One Hour Late (1934). Small roles followed in Car 99 (1935) and Four Hours to Kill! (1935).

He changed his name to John Howard and had a bigger part in Annapolis Farewell (1935).

Leading man

Paramount promoted him to a leading man in just his fourth film, Millions in the Air (1935), though it was a "B" movie.

He was second billed in Soak the Rich (1936), made for Paramount by the team of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Paramount put him in an "A" feature, 13 Hours by Air (1936), and he was fourth billed in the credits. He starred in Border Flight (1936) alongside Frances Farmer and had a good part in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), with Gladys George.^[4]

Howard also starred in the comedy Easy to Take (1936) with Marsha Hunt.

According to David Shipman, "Howard..., was tried out in various capacities – supporting roles in As, leads in Bs, and on loan-outs. These last could be significant: the smaller studios had restricted contract lists and were prepared to pay well to borrow good-looking guys whose acting consisted mainly of not bumping into the furniture".^[1]

Lost Horizon

Howard's first memorable role came on loan out to Columbia: as Ronald Colman's younger brother in Lost Horizon (1937), directed by Frank Capra. Capra had seen him in Annapolis Farewell and arranged for a screen test.^[2] The film was a huge success and really established Howard, who later said "without Lost Horizon I doubt very much whether I would have survived in Hollywood".^[5]

Howard was borrowed by Universal for the lead in Let Them Live (1937). Back at Paramount, he supported Bob Burns and Martha Raye in Mountain Music (1937).

At RKO, Howard did Hitting a New High (1937) with Lily Pons and Jack Oakie. Columbia used him in Penitentiary (1938) with Walter Connolly.^[6]

He and Lew Ayres were in a buddy comedy, Hold 'Em Navy (1937), then Howard supported Lloyd Nolan and Shirley Ross in Prison Farm (1938) and starred in Touchdown, Army (1938) and Grand Jury Secrets (1939).

Bulldog Drummond

Since 1937, Paramount had made a series of "B" movies about daring adventurer Bulldog Drummond. The first of the actors to play the role, Ray Milland, was in Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937). Milland was being groomed for more important pictures, so the studio offered the role of the British hero, Captain Hugh Drummond, to John Howard. Howard was himself not British, so he chose not to attempt a British accent, relying instead on diction to get the idea across. In his first performance as Drummond, Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937), Howard took second billing to John Barrymore, who played Inspector Nielson of Scotland Yard. According to Shipman, Howard "proved himself a resourceful, debonair, and witty player, his double-breasted suits and trilbies an admirable choice."^[1] Howard continued opposite Barrymore in Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937),^[7] and Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938). H. B. Warner replaced Barrymore in Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938), Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939), Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939), and Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939), the last in the series. As Shipman said, about the Drummond films, "[The] titles, splendidly, had nothing to do with the plots (since Drummond was never captured, there was nowhere to escape from) and the inconsequence was pleasing... All the while the spider's-web plots (of death threats, disguises, ambushes, sobbing women and booby-trapped motor-cars) hurtled to the screen – under various directors – with superior production values. They are more enjoyable than competitors featuring the Falcon, Charlie Chan, the Lone Wolf, Sexton Blake et al. due in part to Howard's insouciant playing".^[1]

The Philadelphia Story

Howard made What a Life (1939) with Betty Grable and Disputed Passage (1940) with Dorothy Lamour. The latter was a flop at the box office, and Paramount began to cool on Howard.^[3]

Universal borrowed him to play a key role in Green Hell (1940). MGM used him in The Man from Dakota (1940), supporting Wallace Beery, and The Philadelphia Story (1940), where he played the fiancé of Katharine Hepburn, competing for her amorous attentions with characters played by Cary Grant and James Stewart. It remains one of his best-known films.

Back at Paramount, Howard was top-billed in Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940). Universal borrowed him to play the leading man in The Invisible Woman (1941) with Barrymore and Virginia Bruce.

At Paramount, he supported Basil Rathbone in The Mad Doctor (1941), then Universal gave him the lead in Tight Shoes (1941). At RKO, he supported Adolphe Menjou and Gloria Swanson in Father Takes a Wife (1941), then at Columbia he was Joan Blondell's leading man in the farce comedy Three Girls About Town (1941).

Howard was top billed in Republic Pictures' A Tragedy at Midnight (1942). At Columbia, he had the starring role in The Man Who Returned to Life (1942), and Submarine Raider (1942), then he did Isle of Missing Men (1942) for Monogram Pictures.

Howard wanted to join the navy, but there was a delay after he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, who put him in The Undying Monster (1942), in which he was third billed.^[8]

Television star

Howard continued to work in TV appearing in General Electric Theater, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, The Millionaire, The Whistler, The Ford Television Theatre, The Star and the Story, Science Fiction Theatre, Studio 57, Fireside Theatre, TV Reader's Digest, Front Row Center, and Lux Video Theatre.

He had the lead in a series, Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal (1955–57).^[15][16] The series raised Howard's profile, and he was offered the lead in The Unknown Terror (1957). In 1958 he starred in another TV series, Adventures of the Sea Hawk, which ran for 26 episodes.^[14]

1960s

Howard's 1960s acting work included guest spots on Lawman, Wagon Train, Men into Space, Cheyenne, The Magical World of Disney, The Americans, Outlaws, Gunslinger, Lock Up, Bronco, Surfside 6, 77 Sunset Strip, Rawhide, Hawaiian Eye, Perry Mason, Branded, Profiles in Courage, Days of Our Lives, and The Lucy Show, and The Legend of Jesse James.^[14]

He formed a friendship with Fred MacMurray, star of the TV series My Three Sons who, like Howard, had worked in Paramount features of the 1930s. Howard was a regular guest star on the show, playing MacMurray's boss. Series producer Don Fedderson used Howard in his other series, Family Affair and To Rome with Love. Howard also had roles in the feature films Destination Inner Space (1966) and The Destructors (1967).

1970s

Howard could be seen in Eye for an Eye (1971), The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, Mission: Impossible, Buck and the Preacher (1972), The Brady Bunch, Mod Squad, The ABC Afternoon Playbreak, The New Perry Mason, So Evil, My Sister, Capone (1975), Little House on the Prairie, Bronk, Wonder Woman, Police Woman and The Rockford Files.^[14]