His professional acting career began in 1948 when he went to New York City, auditioned and landed a job in a children’s touring company. The role that got him noticed nationally for television and film was playing the part of Lindstrom in the touring company of the play Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda in 1950, portraying the character for about a year-and-a-half in major cities across the U.S.

Howard married actress Jean Speegle Howard in Burbank, California, in 1949. They remained married until her death, in September 2000. Their sons are actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard. He was also the grandfather of actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard. His son Ron was born while he served three years in the United States Air Force.

Both Rance and elder son Ron, who was two at the time, made their feature film debuts together in the 1956 western Frontier Woman. Later in the 1950s, Rance’s roles included his TV debut in the series Kraft Theatre, on which he appeared three times in 1956–57.

In 2001, Howard married Judy Howard, a year after his first wife’s death. Judy Howard died in January 2017 in Burbank, ten months before Rance’s death.

Howard appeared in over 100 films, including the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke, The Music Man (in an uncredited bit part playing “Oscar Jackson”), and many other films. Howard acted in many of his son Ron’s films including Splash, Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon. He also appeared as Dottie and Kit’s father in A League of Their Own. In 2013, he played Woody Grant’s brother in Nebraska. He often took parts as a priest or minister, county sheriff, or western marshal, and made numerous appearances in films by Joe Dante.

His final film role, completed in September 2017, is also the largest in his career. He plays the role of Carl Robbins in the Michael Worth road-trip drama, Apple Seed, playing on film for the first time the father of his real-life son Clint Howard.