British actor who was best known for his portrayal of a sensitive doctor in love with a married woman in the bittersweet film Brief Encounter (1945).

Howard made his professional acting debut in 1934 while still a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He appeared regularly on the stage, notably in Shakespearean roles in Stratford and at the Criterion Theatre in French Without Tears (1936–38). His acting career was briefly interrupted during World War II when he served as an army paratrooper; he received a medical discharge in 1943. His third film, Brief Encounter, was followed by acclaimed roles in such motion pictures as The Third Man (1949), The Heart of the Matter (1953), The Key (1958), for which he won a British Academy Award, and Sons and Lovers (1960). In his later years, he often portrayed a stiff-necked English military officer, notably in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), and Gandhi (1982) and in a television adaptation of Paul Scott's Staying On (1980).