It was announced two days ago that Rance Howard, father of director Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard, had passed at age 89. Rance reportedly played a sheriff in Cool Hand Luke, which I happened to re-watch last week on a Miami-to-LAX flight. Due respect but I honestly don’t recall anything he said or did in that Stuart Rosenberg flick, and I can’t find a decent frame-grab either.
There’s one Rance role I’ll never forget, though, and that’s the shepherd (i.e., “irate farmer”) who ushers several sheep into a City Council meeting in Roman Polanski‘s Chinatown (’74) — “Tell me where to take ’em! You don’t have an answer for that so quick, do ya?” (Rance arrives sometime after the 2:00 mark.)
Speaking of Cool Hand Luke, the foxy blonde who played the car wash soap suds girl was Joy Harmon. She was around 26 when the film was shot in mid ’66. Today Harmon runs a Burbank bake shop called Aunt Joy’s Cakes.