 His sister Irene was a costume designer and a casting director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.His sister Doris Stainer founded the Hurst Lodge School in Sunningdale, Berkshire in 1945 and remained its headmistress until the 1970s.Howard was widely known as a "ladies' man", and he once said that he "didn't chase women but … couldn't always be bothered to run away".