Ron Howard's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Andy Griffith Show Opie Taylor Happy Days Richard 'Ri… Fonz and the Happy Days Gang Richie Cunn… The Captain and Tennille Ron Howard Sunday Morning Shootout Ron Howard

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Ron was born in Oklahoma, into an acting family - his father had realized a boyhood dream of acting by attending the University of Oklahoma and majoring in drama, and his mother went through acting school in New York. He was in his first movie at 18 months, Frontier Woman (1956), although his first real part was at the age of 4. Soon a regular on "Playhouse 90" (1956), he was cast as Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960), and later moved from a child in Mayberry to America's teenager as Richie Cunningham in "Happy Days" (1974). The life of a child star is certainly not routine, but Ron's parents wanted his life to be as normal as possible - he attended public schools and at age 15 even took nine months off to play a basketball season. The transition from child actor to adult actor is always difficult, but for Ron the real transition was from child actor to adult director. There were some film roles, such as The Shootist (1976) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, but his dream and now his focus was directing. He had begun shooting films at age 15 with a Super-8 camera, and after high school spent two years in a film program at the University of Southern California, but then left, feeling he could learn more from actual experience. That first film was the hardest to finance, but he struck a deal with Roger Corman - he would star in Eat My Dust (1976) and Corman would produce Grand Theft Auto (1977) which Howard would direct (he also wrote the script and starred). It was a success, and his directorial career was jump-started. Married since 1975 to his high school sweetheart, he, in 1997, is enjoying a life of telling stories as one of Hollywood's top directors.


TRIVIA:

• He has Dutch, Scottish, English, Irish, German and Cherokee ancestry.
• Son of actor/director 'Rance Howard' (qv) and actress 'Jean Speegle Howard' (qv).
• 'Henry Winkler' (qv) is the godfather of Howard's daughter 'Bryce Dallas Howard' (qv).
• All of Howard's four children are named after the places they were conceived: Bryce Dallas in Dallas, Texas, Paige Carlyle and Jocelyn Carlyle at the Hotel Carlyle in New York City, and Reed Cross after a specific road, according to 'Bryce Dallas Howard' (qv).
• Ranked #26 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #29 in 2002.
• Recipient of a (USA) National Medal of Arts, 2003.
• Has cast three fellow cast members of the American Graffiti movies in films he later directed. 'Kathleen Quinlan' (qv) appeared in _Apollo 13 (1995)_ (qv), 'Delroy Lindo' (qv) appeared in _Ransom (1996)_ (qv), and 'Scott Glenn' (qv) appeared in _Backdraft (1991)_ (qv).
• When he was a child actor, his father was very involved in his career, protecting him from unfair treatment, and being strict with him (when necessary).