Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American actor, Academy Award-winning director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, 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. He made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy Grand Theft Auto. He left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing; his films include the Academy Award-winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, and A Beautiful Mind. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Asteroid 12561 Howard is named for him.
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.
Ron was tutored at Desilu Studios in his younger years. He graduated from John Burroughs High School. He later attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts but did not graduate.
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.
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.
Howard played Steve Bollander 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.
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