Ron Howard

For other people named Ron Howard, see Ronald Howard (disambiguation).

Ron Howard
Howard at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
Born	Ronald William Howard (1954-03-01) March 1, 1954 Duncan, Oklahoma, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1956–present
Spouse	Cheryl Alley (June 7, 1975–present)
Children	4 (including Bryce Dallas Howard)

Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American film director, producer and former child actor. He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He appeared in the films American Graffiti in 1973 and The Shootist in 1976, the latter during his run on Happy Days. Howard made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy Grand Theft Auto, and left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing. His films include the Academy Award-winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Beautiful Mind. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Asteroid 12561 Howard is named after him.

Early life

Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Jean Speegle Howard, an actress, and Rance Howard, a director, writer and actor, who was serving three years in the United States Air Force at the time. The family moved to Hollywood in 1958, the year before the birth of his younger brother, Clint Howard. They rented a house on the block south of the Desilu Studios, where The Andy Griffith Show would later be filmed. They lived in Hollywood for at least three years, before moving to Burbank.

Howard was tutored at Desilu Studios in his younger years, and graduated from John Burroughs High School. He later attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts but did not graduate.

Career

Early acting roles and The Andy Griffith Show

Howard with Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show, circa 1961.

In 1959, Howard had his first credited film role, in The Journey. He appeared in June Allyson's CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson in the episode "Child Lost"; in the The Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance"; a few episodes of the first season of the sitcom Dennis the Menace, as Stewart, one of Dennis's friends; and in the 24th episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Howard played "Timmy" (uncredited) in "Counterfeit Gun", Season 4, Episode 2 (1960) of the TV series, "The Cheyenne Show".

In 1960, Howard was cast as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show, a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show. Credited as "Ronny Howard", he portrayed the son of the title character (played by Andy Griffith) for all eight seasons of the show. Howard also spent a lot of time with Griffith off-screen.

In the 1962 film version of "The Music Man," Howard played Winthrop Paroo, the child with the lisp; the film starred Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. He also starred in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie's Father, with Glenn Ford.

Billed as "Ronny Howard", he appeared as Barry Stewart on The Eleventh Hour, in the episode "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?" in 1965; on I Spy, in the episode "Little Boy Lost", in 1966; and as an underage Marine on M*A*S*H, in the episode "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet", in 1973. In the 1970s, he appeared in at least one episode of The Bold Ones, as a teenage tennis player with an illness.

Howard appeared on the 1969 Disneyland Records album The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion. It featured the story of two teenagers, Mike (Howard) and Karen (Robie Lester), who get trapped inside the Haunted Mansion. Thurl Ravenscroft plays the Narrator, Pete Reneday plays the Ghost Host, and Eleanor Audley plays Madame Leota. Some of the effects and ideas that were planned but never permanently made it to the attraction are mentioned here: the Raven speaks in the Stretching Room, and the Hatbox Ghost is mentioned during the Attic scene. It was reissued in 1998 as a cassette tape titled A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Film roles and Happy Days

Howard at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Howard played Steve Bolander in George Lucas's coming-of-age film American Graffiti in 1973. When asked in 2000 if he would ever like to return to acting, Howard replied, "Only if I can act with Cindy Williams again", referring to the actress who played opposite him in American Graffiti.

A role in an installment of series Love, American Style, titled "Love in The Happy Days", led to him being cast as Richie Cunningham in the TV series Happy Days. Beginning in 1974, he played the likeable "buttoned-down" boy, in contrast to Henry Winkler's "greaser" Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. On the Happy Days set, he developed an on- and off-screen chemistry with series leads Winkler and Tom Bosley, as they each developed their own private lives. The three remained friends until Bosley's death in 2010.

In 1976, Howard played Gillom Rogers in the movie The Shootist, with John Wayne. He had hopes they would work together again; he quotes Wayne as saying, about a couple of months after filming wrapped on The Shootist, "I found a good script, kid... it's you and me, or it's nobody." But it was not to be, as Wayne had already been diagnosed with the terminal cancer that would kill him three years later. As a token of respect, Howard narrated the film's opening montage, which showed various clips from Wayne's long film career.

Howard's last significant on-screen role was a reprisal of his famous role as Opie Taylor in the 1986 TV movie Return to Mayberry, an Andy Griffith Show reunion reuniting him with Griffith, Don Knotts, and most of the cast. He also appeared in two Happy Days TV reunions: 1992's The Happy Days Reunion Special, a retrospective hosted by Winkler that aired on ABC; and 2005's The Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion, where he was reunited with most of the surviving cast.

Directing

Before leaving Happy Days in 1980, Howard made his directing debut with the 1977 low-budget comedy/action film Grand Theft Auto. This came after cutting a deal with Roger Corman, wherein Corman would let Howard direct a film in exchange for Howard starring in Eat My Dust, with Christopher Norris. Howard went on to direct several TV movies. His big theatrical break came in 1982, with Night Shift, featuring Michael Keaton, Shelley Long, and Henry Winkler.

Howard in 2008 during the filming of Angels & Demons in Rome.

He has since directed a number of high-visibility films, including Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), Willow (1988), Parenthood (1989), Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels & Demons.

Howard's younger brother Clint has minor roles in most of his movies. He has also cast his father and mother in a number of roles. Both his wife Cheryl Howard and father Rance Howard appeared in Angels & Demons, as a CERN scientist and as Cardinal Beck, respectively.

Howard showcased the world premiere of his film Frost/Nixon at the 2008 London Film Festival in October 2008.

Howard was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award. Michael Keaton presented him with the Award.

Imagine Entertainment

Howard and Brian Grazer at a Tribeca Film Festival panel on A Beautiful Mind

Howard is the co-chairman, with Brian Grazer, of Imagine Entertainment, a major film and television production company. Imagine has produced several films including Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, and Inside Deep Throat, and the television series 24, Felicity and Arrested Development. Howard also narrated Arrested Development.

Personal life

On June 7, 1975, Howard wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl (née Alley), a writer with a degree in geriatric psychology. Their first child, daughter Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981. Their twin daughters Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard were born in 1985. Their fourth and last child and only son, Reed Cross Howard, was born in 1987. His daughters' middle names indicate where they were conceived, Bryce in Dallas, Texas, and twins Jocelyn and Paige at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. Son Reed Cross was named after a London street because "Volvo isn't a very good middle name", according to Howard. Daughters Bryce and Paige are actresses. The family lives on a 35-acre (14 ha) estate in the gated community of Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. Ron Howard became a grandfather when his daughter, Bryce, and son-in-law Seth Gabel welcomed their first child, son Theodore Norman Howard Gabel, on February 16, 2007. Ron Howard became a grandfather for the second time when Bryce and Seth welcomed their second child, daughter Beatrice Jean Howard Gabel, on January 19, 2012.

In the June 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Howard was asked, "What do you consider your greatest achievement?" He replied, "Forty-eight consecutive years of steady employment in television and film, while preserving a rich family life."

Howard in popular culture

Howard appeared as himself twice in The Simpsons. In "When You Dish Upon a Star", Homer meets and befriends Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger and Howard. Later in the episode, Howard is injured when trying to jump from a truck to the RV that Homer was driving. In the end, he pitches Homer's movie idea and gets it greenlit. Another episode ("Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder") Homer and Howard are fighting each other while appearing on The Springfield Squares. Later, Howard gives Homer the inspiration to spend more time with his kids and offers him some money that Homer refuses at first but then takes. Howard yanks the money back and drives away.

When he hosted Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, Eddie Murphy called him "Opie Cunningham".

In the South Park episode "Ginger Kids", Cartman asks a crowd of fellow gingers to name great Americans with red hair, the only name they can think of is "Ron Howard". When asked to name a second, one responds "Ron Howard" again.

On a VH1 special about the 100 greatest child stars, many of the interviewees considered Ron Howard to be the most successful child star of all time, considering his two major television acting roles and his directing career.

In the series finale of the Emmy Award-winning, critically acclaimed series Arrested Development (which he executive produced and narrated), Howard appears as himself in an epilogue at the end of the episode and refers to himself as "a Hollywood icon".

In Season 1, Episode 3 of Stroker and Hoop on Adult Swim, Stroker and Hoop run a detective agency whose first client needs them to make Ron Howard stop controlling his mind.

In October 2008, Howard reprised his roles as Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham for the first time in over 20 years when he appeared in a video on funnyordie.com in which he endorsed Barack Obama and urged people to vote. The video, titled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action", also features Griffith and Winkler. In the video, Howard shaves his beard and wears a wig in order to recreate the way he looked when he was younger.

Ron Howard made a cameo appearance in the 2009 music video for Jamie Foxx's song "Blame It" alongside Forrest Whittaker, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the video he is shown holding a glass of champagne.

Filmography

Director

Films

Year	Title	Notes
1969	Old Paint	Short film
	Deed of Daring-Do	Short film
	Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore and Death	Short film
1977	Grand Theft Auto	Also writer
1982	Night Shift
1984	Splash
1985	Cocoon
1986	Gung Ho	Also executive producer
1988	Willow
1989	Parenthood	Also writer
1991	Backdraft
1992	Far and Away	Also writer/producer
1994	The Paper
1995	Apollo 13
1996	Ransom
1999	EDtv	Also producer
2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Also producer
2001	A Beautiful Mind	Academy Award for Best Director Also producer
2003	The Missing	Also producer
2005	Cinderella Man	Also producer
2006	The Da Vinci Code	Also producer
2008	Frost/Nixon	Academy Award nomination for Best Director Also producer
2009	Angels & Demons	Also producer
2011	The Dilemma	Also producer
2012	Rush	In production

Television

Year	Film	Notes
1978	Cotton Candy	Writer/Director
1980	Skyward	Director/Executive producer
1981	Through the Magic Pyramid	Director/Executive producer
1983	Littleshots	Director
1987	Take Five	Director/Executive producer
1988	Poison	Executive Producer
1998	Sports Night	Executive producer
1999	The PJs	Executive producer only
2003	Arrested Development	Executive producer/Narrator
2010	Parenthood	Executive producer only

Acting

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1959	The Journey	Billy Rhinelander	as Ronny Howard
1961	"Five Minutes To Live" (re-released as Door-to-Door Maniac and "Five Minutes To Live")	Bobby	as Ronnie Howard
1962	The Music Man	Winthrop Paroo	as Ronny Howard
1963	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Eddie	as Ronny Howard
1965	Village of the Giants	Genius	as Ronny Howard
1970	The Wild Country	Virgil	as Ronny Howard
1973	American Graffiti	Steve Bolander	as Ronny Howard
	Happy Mother's Day, Love George	Johnny
1974	The Spikes Gang	Les Richter
1975	Huckleberry Finn	Huckleberry Finn
1976	The First Nudie Musical	Auditioning actor	uncredited
	Eat My Dust	Hoover Niebold
	The Shootist	Gillom Rogers	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1977	Grand Theft Auto	Sam Freeman
1979	More American Graffiti	Steve Bolander
1982	Night Shift	Annoying Sax Player/Boy Making out with Girlfriend in Front of Chuck's Apartment	uncredited
1992	The Magical World of Chuck Jones	Himself	documentary
1998	One Vision	Himself	documentary
	Welcome to Hollywood	Himself
2000	The Independent	Himself
	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Whoville Townsperson	uncredited
2001	Osmosis Jones	Tom Colonic	(voice)
	A Beautiful Mind	Man at Governor's Ball	uncredited
2004	Tell Them Who You Are	Himself	documentary
2007	In the Shadow of the Moon	Himself	documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Johnny Ringo	Ricky Parrot	1 episode
	The Twilight Zone	The Wilcox Boy	Episode "Walking Distance"
1959–1960	The June Allyson Show	Wim	"Child Lost" (as Ronny Howard)
	Dennis the Menace	Stewart	5 episodes, 1959–1960
1959–1961	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	various roles	4 episodes (as Ronny Howard)
	General Electric Theater	various roles	2 episodes
1960	Make Room for Daddy	Opie Taylor	"Danny Meets Andy Griffith"
	Cheyenne	Timmy	"Counterfeit Gun" uncredited
	Pete and Gladys	Tommy	"The Goat Story"
1960–1968	The Andy Griffith Show	Opie Taylor	209 episodes (as Ronny Howard)
1962	Route 66	Chet	"Poor Little Kangaroo Rat" (as Ronny Howard)
	The New Breed	Tommy Simms	"So Dark the Night"
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Barry Stewart	"Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?" (as Ronny Howard)
1964	The Great Adventure	Daniel Waterhouse	"Plague" (as Ronny Howard)
	Dr. Kildare	Jerry Prentice	"A Candle in the Window" (as Ronny Howard)
	The Fugitive	Gus	"Cry Uncle"
1965	The Big Valley	Tommy	"Night of the Wolf" (as Ronny Howard)
1966	Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.	Opie Taylor	"Opie Joins the Marines" (as Ronny Howard)
1966	I Spy	Alan Loden	"Little Boy Lost"
1967	The Monroes	Timothy Prescott	"Teaching the Tiger to Purr" (as Ronny Howard)
	Gentle Ben	Jody Cutler	"Green-Eyed Bear" (as Ronny Howard)
	A Boy Called Nuthin	Richie `Nuthin'´ Caldwell	(as Ronny Howard)
1968	Mayberry R.F.D.	Opie Taylor	"Andy and Helen Get Married" (as Ronny Howard)
	The F.B.I.	Jess Orkin	"The Runaways" (as Ronny Howard)
1969	Judd for the Defense	Phil Beeton	"Between the Dark and the Daylight" (as Ronny Howard)
	Daniel Boone	Luke	"A Man Before His Time" (as Ronny Howard)
1968–1969	Lancer	Various roles	2 episodes (as Ronny Howard)
1969	Gunsmoke	Jamie	"Charlie Noon" (as Ronny Howard)
	Land of the Giants	Jodar	"Genus At Work" (as Ronny Howard)
1970	Smoke	Chris	(as Ronny Howard)
	The Headmaster	Tony Landis	"Will the Real Mother of Tony Landis Please Stand Up?"
	Lassie	Gary	"Gary Here Comes Glory!" Part 1 & 2 (as Ronny Howard)
1971–1972	The Smith Family	Bob Smith	39 episodes
1972	Love, American Style	Richard 'Richie' Cunningham	"Love and the Happy Days"
	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Cory Merlino	"Discovery at Fourteen" (as Ronny Howard)
	Bonanza	Ted Hoag	"The Initiation" (as Ronny Howard)
1973	M*A*S*H	Private Walter/ Wendell Peterson	"Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" (as Ronny Howard)
1974	The Waltons	Seth Turner	"The Gift"
	The Migrants	Lyle Barlow
	Locusts	Donny Fletcher
1974–1984	Happy Days	Richard 'Richie' Cunningham	171 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
1975	Huckleberry Finn	Huckleberry Finn
1976	I'm a Fool	Andy
1976–1979	Laverne & Shirley	Richard 'Richie' Cunningham	2 episodes
1980	Act of Love	Leon Cybulkowski
	The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang	Richard 'Richie' Cunningham	(voice) "King for a Day"
1981	Bitter Harvest	Ned De Vries
	Fire on the Mountain	Lee Mackie
1983	When Your Lover Leaves		(uncredited)
1986	Return to Mayberry	Opie Taylor
1998 and 1999	The Simpsons	Himself	voice
1999	Frasier	Stephen	voice "Good Samaritan"
2003–2006	Arrested Development	Narrator, self	(uncredited)

External links

• Ron Howard at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Ron Howard at AllMovie
• Ron Howard's Television Schedule
• Ron Howard's Rush Formula 1 James Hunt and Niki Lauder 2013 Filming at the Nordschleife's Nurburgring
• 2002 Commencement Address (USC School of Cinema-Television)
• Ron Howard: Imagining the Wonders of Willow – Article at StarWars.com
• Ron Howard Archive of American Television interview
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Howard, Ron