Howard DeVille (born March 22, 1958) is Betty's husband, and father to Phil and Lil in the original series. He is voiced by Frank Oz.
Description[]
Howard is the quietest grown-up in the gang. This is probably because he's married to Betty, the loudest grown-up in the gang, and it's hard to get a word in edgewise. The DeVilles are the Pickles' next-door neighbors, and Howard likes to drop by and see Stu's inventions. He has been nicknamed "Howie".
Howard is generally considered to be fairly shy. He tends to not be as bold as others, and usually takes a back seat to his wife, in terms of domestic duties and parenting. Howard is known to display passive aggressive tendencies toward his wife. It is revealed by Betty that she use to poke him with her index finger during their school days, however, after years, he realized Betty was only doing it because she was too shy to admit that she liked him. In "Touchdown Tommy", Howard was shown to be a big football fan, and was seen skiing in Vacation. But true to his timid personality, he also seems to take household hobbies, such as building with toothpicks. It is revealed that Lil wants his special calculator.
Looks[]
Howard has peach skin. He has blue hair and a pair of white eyes with black pupils, and appears to look much older than the other adults. He often wears a light red shirt, purple pants, and brown shoes. In All Grown Up!, he has aged the most. His hair has grayed, and he's also balding, while he has noticeable wrinkles. He wears a green Hawaiian shirt with red plaid shorts, blue socks, and gray shoes.
Appearances[]
Howard has appeared in many episodes of Rugrats. His first appearance was in "".
It's unknown if he'll end up appearing in the 2021-reboot, especially since Betty's portrayed not only as a lesbian, but also as a single mom.
Trivia[]
- Howard and Charlotte are the only parents of the Rugrats that are generally known by their real names rather than nicknames (although Betty sometimes calls Howard "Howie" and Charlotte "Char").
- He does most of the housework (such as washing, cleaning, sweeping, ironing, etc.) while Betty earns the money.
- He is the only member of the DeVille family in the original not to be voiced by Kath Soucie, who voices his wife and both of the twins.
- According to "Angelica's in Love", Betty and her husband Howard first met when they were in third grade (since Howard was born in 1958 and Betty in 1959, this implies that Howard was held back once, assuming that their classroom was not a third-and-fourth-grade classroom).
- In "Chuckie's in Love", Betty mentions that he wore fake muscles on their first date.
- Unlike other characters, his name wasn't changed to "Ulises DeVille" in the Latin American dub.
- Howard is one of the few parents that hasn't been seen as a child alongside Betty and Kira.