Biography: Charles Howerton was born in Cuero, Texas, in 1938, and was the youngest passenger, at age six weeks, to fly on American Airlines to Pensacola, Florida, where his father, a naval aviator, was stationed. In October 1941 he and his mother left Pearl Harbor for Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, Texas, where Lieutenant Commander Howerton and Tyrone Power (a Marine pilot at the time) often threw him a ... show all Charles Howerton was born in Cuero, Texas, in 1938, and was the youngest passenger, at age six weeks, to fly on American Airlines to Pensacola, Florida, where his father, a naval aviator, was stationed. In October 1941 he and his mother left Pearl Harbor for Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, Texas, where Lieutenant Commander Howerton and Tyrone Power (a Marine pilot at the time) often threw him around like a human football. At age ten he enjoyed playing in abandoned Japanese machine gun nests on Guam, at 12 sailing dinghies in Coronado bay amid navy ships, at 14 exploring the Florida Everglades, and at 16 finding himself in the middle of a revolution to oust Juan Domingo Perón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He gathered clams and chased rheas near the Straits of Magellan, hunted and fished in the pristine forests and streams of the north and south of Argentina, visited Macchu Picchu in Peru, learned to tango, and played on a city championship softball team. He also was the lead in the senior class play at the American school in Buenos Aires, his first taste of acting. At the University of North Carolina, Charles brushed up against show biz as Chief Announcer and Production Manager of WUNC-FM, where he also wrote, directed and performed in radio dramas for the NAEB and appeared on the Playmakers stage. He also caught the winning pass in intramural football, dated the drum majorette, served in Student Legislature and wrote plays and short stories, many of which have been published. He graduated with a B.A. in Communications in 1960. During the summers, He worked as a YMCA tennis counselor in Connecticut, on a surveying crew and as a top-40 disc jockey in Pennsylvania, and as a cub reporter on his home town newspaper in Texas. That led him to the Graduate School of Theatre at the University of Texas, where he worked as a Children's Theatre Assistant and majored in Playwriting, but also acted in major productions with guest stars like Rip Torn and Barbara Barrie, and in leading roles at the Austin Civic Theatre. Charles married his college sweetheart, Jeri Lynn Mooney (aka Susan Howard) and went west to Los Angeles in 1962, working Equity waiver productions with old-time actors like Frank Faylen, Percy Helton, E.J. André, Lyle Bettger and Alan Mowbray at the Masquers Club. He also wrote dialogue and narration for independent features and worked as a salesman for Burlington Mills and Moore Business Forms. He and Susan divorced in 1966. They have one daughter, Lynn, and grandchildren Daniel and Noelle. Charles re-married, in 1967, to actress Linda Gary. In 1970, after successes in TV and commercials, they vacationed in Europe, found acting work in Rome, Italy, learned Italian and wound up staying four years, working in films and commercials, and doing foreign to English dubbing in Italy, Spain and Germany. Charles attended the Cannes Film Festival in '72 as a journalist for the Texas Press Association, and interviewed Gregory Peck, Groucho Marx and Alfred Hitchcock . He and Linda saw dozens of films and ate and drank their way through every post-film party they were invited to, and some they weren't. They returned to L.A. in 1974 with baby daughter Alexis, and Charles was immediately hired to go on the road with Eve Arden in dinner theater. Then another daughter, Dana, led to Charles becoming the volunteer drama coach for the Gifted and Talented Program at their elementary school, for which he wrote and directed the play "Flashpants and the Magic Ring", a musical comedy. From the time his daughters were old enough to travel, Charles and his family made a tradition of vacationing in distant and exotic parts of the world--Egypt, Greece, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tahiti, Thailand, Hawaii, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, always with an itinerary of nature trips and museums, river rafting and camel rides, parasailing and scuba diving, sampling the local cuisine, always staying in local inns where contact with the locals was encouraged, never breaking the tradition no matter how many "jobs" Charles and Linda had to miss. The bonds that were forged with strangers, the friendships founded and family ties cemented, proved far more valuable. After Linda's death in 1995, Charles re-married again in 1996, to singer Jeanne Page. He continues to perform in film and television and on stage, and to publish poetry and short stories. hide |
