Sean Kanan Says He Helped Ron Howard’s Brother Clint Get Cast as an Unhoused Man on The Bold and the Beautiful (Exclusive)

Sean Kanan recalls the serendipitous way Clint Howard landed his role Brave and beautiful.

Although Clint (65) is the brother of Hollywood heavyweight Ron Howard, it was Kanan (58) who connected Clint to the soap opera.

“I was at the Hollywood Show, which is kind of memorabilia, and Clint was there. We talked and it was great talking to Clint,” the actor — who played Deacon Sharpe on Bold since 2000 — recounts exclusively to PEOPLE.

Clint Howard, Ron Howard’s brother, is getting ready to make his soap opera debut Brave and beautiful

He continues: “Then suddenly I looked up and saw [Bold producer] Casey Kasprzyk and I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ He says, ‘Well, I’m actually looking for someone to play a homeless guy in a scene you’re doing.’ I said, ‘Stay here. I have a guy. You won’t even need makeup.’ ”

Kanan left and fetched Clint, who quickly prepared for the impromptu casting by tousling his hair and giving “this kind of crazy look.”

“Casey was like, ‘Oh my God. This is great,'” Kanan remembers.

Clint Howard (right) in an episode of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ in 2024.

Sean Smith / Bell Phillip TV Productions Inc.

Not only was Clint cast on the spot, but he ended up impressing the producers so much that his role as Tom Starr, a homeless man, was extended after his April 26 debut.

“They brought Clint in for, I think, two shows, and he was so great that he was done [13 episodes]”, notes Kanan.

Kanan says he enjoyed working with Clint, whose resume includes more than 250 film and TV spots, including Arrested development, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Pam & Tommy and Kindergarten for grandparents.

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“It was an amazing experience to have Clint on the show,” he said Cobra Kai star tells PEOPLE. “He’s a great actor and he’s become a really good friend. It’s been really nice.”

Clint’s showbiz career began alongside his director brother Ron, 70, The Andy Griffith Show when they were small children. The siblings have since worked together on several films, as well as their 2022 memoir. The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Familywhich became a The New York Times the best seller.

Clint Howard (left) and Ron Howard.

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal/Getty

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Clint opened up about his relationship with Ron in 2022 while appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show. “I love my brother. He’s a great big brother,” he said at the time. “He’s a Hall of Fame filmmaker and he’s a better big brother than he is a filmmaker.”

He noted that he discovered at a young age that Ron’s job as a director meant that he was in charge of the set. “I learned my lesson early. I was probably in my … early 20s, and yet I had to learn that at the end of the day he’s the boss, he makes the decisions,” Clint said.

Ron added that working with Clint meant he would get honest feedback. “When I have the opportunity to direct Clint, it’s always a pleasure because … he will also tell me the truth,” the Oscar winner said at The Drew Barrymore Show.

Clint previously talked about how his older brother served as a mentor throughout his career.

“Not only did I have a wonderful mentor in my dad, but I had a great role model in Ron,” Clint said View 2021. “Ron is five years older than me, so he was already in the business when, luckily, I entered the business and I saw how he did it all. It was wonderful and it gave me confidence.”

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Source: HIS Education