Actor, Film Producer, Film Director, Screenwriter. He was best known for playing the character roles of cops, marshals, professors, strangers, detectives, druggists, judges, and train conductors in both silent films and sound films. He will be best remembered for playing the role of a 'Villager' in the classic horror film, "The Bride Of Frankenstein" (1935). The film which was directed by James Whale, which was based on the book by Mary Shelley, written for the screen by William Hurlbut and John L. Balderston, and which also starred Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Gavin Gordon, Ernest Thesiger, and Valerie Hobson, tells the story of the mad scientist Dr. Frankenstein, who is goaded by an even madder scientist and then who builds his monster a mate. He was born one of four children as August Wilhelm Schmahlfeldt in Cincinnati, Ohio, although he claimed to have been born in Altona, Berzig, Hamburg, Germany, to parents, Ludwig Philip Schmahlfeldt (1860-1914), and his wife Wilhelmina Maria Hochlochter Schmalfeldt (1861-1911), on October 1, 1876. He also used the name of William Arthur Howard, and William August Howard in his private life, before taking the stage name of Anders Van Haden. He initially began his acting career working on the stage in or about 1895. He eventually moved to film and he became an important part of such film companies as Thanhauser, Rex, Biograph, Gotham, Paramount, and Warner Brothers, as an actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He made his actual film debut playing the role of 'Bings-The Book Agent' in the short comedy film, "Cousin Clara's Cookbook" (1915), which also starred Winifred Lane and Riley Chamberlin. Besides, "Cousin Clara's Cookbook" (1915), and "The Bride Of Frankenstein" (1935), his many other film credits include, "Freddie, The Fake Fisherman" (1915), "Hannah's Hen-Pecked Husband" (1915), "The Optistic Oriental Occults" (1916), "Snowstorm And Sunshine" (1916), "Perkins' Peace Party" (1916), "Maud Muller Modernized" (1916), "Ambitious Awkward Andy" (1916), "Theodore's Terrible Thirst" (1916), "Rupert's Rube Relation" (1916), "Paul's Political Pull" (1916), "Ruining Randall's Reputation" (1916), "The Professor's Peculiar Precautions" (1916), "The Sailor's Smiling Spirit" (1916), "Dad's Darling Daughter's (1916), "The Kiddies' Kaptain Kid" (1916), "Sammy's Semi-Suicide" (1916), "Doughnuts" (1916), "The Battle Cry Of Freedom" (1918), "Die Maske fällt" (1931), "Die große Fahrt" (1931), "The Spider" (1931), "The Fighting Marshal" (1931), "Cheaters At Play" (1932), "A Passport To Hell" (1932), "Jungle Mystery" (1932), "Reunion In Vienna" (1933), "Best Of Enemies" (1933), "Secret Of The Blue Room" (1933), "Snug In The Jug" (1933), "Madame Spy" (1934), "Riptide" (1934), "Little Man, What Now?" (1934), "The World Moves On" (1934), "Stamboul Quest" (1934), "We Live Again" (1934), "Love Time" (1934), "Mystery Woman" (1935), "The Country Chairman" (1935), "Folies Bergère de Paris" (1935), "The Florentine Dagger" (1935), "Les Misérables" (1935), "The Daring Young Man" (1935), "The Affair Of Susan" (1935), "Diamond Jim" (1935), "Thunder In The Night" (1935), "Barbary Coast" (1935), "The Story Of Louis Pasteur" (1936), and his last role playing the 'Tribal Elder' in "Desert Gold" (1936), which also starred Buster Crabbe, Tom Keene, and Monte Blue. During his acting career, he also used the names of William Howell, W.A. Howell, and William A. Howell. He passed away from heart disease at the Hollywood Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on June 19, 1936, at the age of 59. His funeral service and cremation were held through the Pierce Bros. Funeral Directors in Los Angeles, California, and his ashes are in storage at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles, California. He was married to Myrna Velma Van Haden with whom he had a son and a daughter, William, and Constance, and to Henrietta C. Sommer Van Haden with whom he had a son, Charles Clifton Howard.