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Clint Howard (born 20 April 1959; age 64) is an actor who played Balok in the Star Trek: The Original Series first season episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", Grady in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season episode "Past Tense, Part II", Muk in the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode "Acquisition", a Creepy Orion in the Star Trek: Discovery first season episode "Will You Take My Hand?" and Buck Martinez in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds second season episode "Under the Cloak of War".

He filmed his scenes as Balok for "The Corbomite Maneuver" on Wednesday 1 June 1966 at Desilu Stage 9. He also filmed a makeup test the previous day. [1]

Along with Majel Barrett, Joseph Ruskin, Jack Donner and Vince Deadrick, he is one of only five actors to appear in both The Original Series and Enterprise. He, Barrett, and Ruskin also appeared in Deep Space Nine. He is the only performer to date who appeared in both The Original Series and Discovery or Strange New Worlds (excluding performers who appeared in archive footage).

Balok, adult

Appearing as an adult Balok

On Comedy Central's 2006 roast of William Shatner, Howard reprised his role as Balok in an older, grown-up form addicted to tranya.

Howard holds the record for longest period between first and most recent appearances on Star Trek, of 20713 days, or just under 57 years, reclaiming the record from Walter Koenig who played the voice only role of Anton Chekov in Star Trek: Picard.

Career[]

Howard is the younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard, and the son of actor Rance Howard. Clint's career began at the age of one, with a role in The Andy Griffith Show, a television show that starred his brother. He has worked steadily since.

His roles as a child actor include appearances on series like The Fugitive (with Andrew Prine, James B. Sikking, Joseph Campanella, and Barbara Baldavin), Bonanza (with Bob Miles), Judd for the Defense (with Dick Cherney), Love, American Style, The Odd Couple, Gunsmoke (with Anthony Caruso, Bobby Clark, and Gary Combs), The Mod Squad (starring Tige Andrews and Clarence Williams III, with Barry Atwater), and The Streets of San Francisco (directed by Corey Allen).

One of his most memorable TV guest appearances was in the titular role of the 1971 Night Gallery episode "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes".

In 1974, Howard co-starred in the short-lived western series The Cowboys which was cancelled after only 12 episodes, and featured DeForest Kelley, Ian Wolfe, and Jack Perkins in guest roles.

In 1978, he appeared in Harper Valley PTA directed by an uncredited Ralph Senensky and starring Ronny Cox and John Fiedler. He made two guest appearances on the show Happy Days starring his brother and Anson Williams, in 1976 and 1980.

From the 1980s onwards, Howard mostly appeared in supporting roles in feature films, often directed by his brother. He has been directed by his brother in seventeen films, including Splash (1984, with Charles Macaulay), Cocoon (1986, with Herta Ware), Backdraft (1991), Far and Away (1992, with Barbara Babcock, Colm Meaney, and Anthony De Longis), Apollo 13 (1995, with Googy Gress, Max Grodénchik, Ned Vaughn, and Steve Rankin), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, with Bill Irwin, Landry Allbright, and Frank Welker), Cinderella Man (2005, with Bruce McGill, Ron Canada, Daniel Kash, and Marcelo Tubert, written by Akiva Goldsman), Frost/Nixon (2008, starring Frank Langella, with Antony Acker, Andy Milder, Geoffrey Blake, Ned Vaughn, and Googy Gress), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), the latter making him one of the performers who both appeared in Star Trek and Star Wars.

In 1986, Howard appeared in his brother's Gung Ho alongside Patti Yasutake and in the same year co-starred in television series adaptation Gung Ho, which starred Scott Bakula and Patti Yasutake, and featured Wendy Schaal and Earl Boen in guest roles.

His other film credits include Tango & Cash (1989, with Marc Alaimo, Roy Brocksmith, Teri Hatcher, Glenn Morshower, Michael J. Pollard, and Phil Rubenstein), The Rocketeer (1991, with Paul Sorvino, Terry O'Quinn, Ed Lauter, Max Grodénchik, William Boyett, and Merritt Yohnka), Carnosaur (1993, starring Raphael Sbarge, with Frank Novak and Martha Hackett), Santa with Muscles (1996, with Robin Curtis, Ed Begley, Jr., Brenda Strong, and Brian J. Williams), Barb Wire (1996, with Shelly Desai, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Jr., Henry Kingi, Sr., Patti Tippo, and Tracee Lee Cocco), The Waterboy (1998), My Dog Skip (2000), Little Nicky (2000, with Michael McKean, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Jr., Jeff Imada, and Jess Harnell), The Cat in the Hat (2003, with Amy Hill and Frank Welker), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Halloween (2007, starring Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, with Richard Lynch, Tom Towles, and Sid Haig), and BloodRayne: The Third Reich (2011).

He made a small but notable appearance as radar technician Peters in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997, with Charles Napier, Brian George, Douglas Aarniokoski, and Patricia Tallman), which he reprised in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999, with Jane Carr, Michael G. Hagerty, Jack Kehler, and Tony Jay) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002, with Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Jr. and Greg Grunberg).

His further television credits include a co-starring role in Space Rangers in 1996, alongside Marjorie Monaghan and Cary-Hiroyuki, and guest appearances on Seinfeld (starring Jason Alexander, with Vaughn Armstrong), Married... with Children, The Outer Limits (1996, written by Richard Matheson from his own short story, co-starring Matt Frewer, and narrated by Kevin Conway), Total Recall 2070, The Pretender (with Harve Presnell and James Whitmore, Jr.), Crossing Jordan (starring Jerry O'Connell and Miguel Ferrer, with Cliff DeYoung and Scott MacDonald), Arrested Development, My Name Is Earl, Heroes (starring Greg Grunberg and Zachary Quinto, with Douglas Tait), and the reboot of Hawaii Five-0 (starring Daniel Dae Kim, with Corbin Bernsen, developed by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman).

In 2009, Howard appeared on an episode of Fringe, starring John Noble, created by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, and co-written by Akiva Goldsman, playing paranoid conspiracy theorist Emmanuel Grayson, who believed he was the son of Sarek and feared an invasion by Romulans from the future (foreshadowing the plot of Abrams' Star Trek). Grayson's apartment was #1701 and he shared his surname with Spock's mother.

Star Trek appearances[]

External links[]

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