Howard Ron - Ron Howard: from Mayberry to the moon-- and beyond

RON HOWARD
From Mayberry to the Moon...
and Beyond

B EVERLY G RAY

Rutledge Hill PressTM
Nashville, Tennessee

A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

www.ThomasNelson.com

Copyright 2003 by Beverly Gray

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gray, Beverly.
Ron Howard : from Mayberry to the moon and beyond / Beverly Gray.
p. cm.
Filmography as an actor (p. )
Filmography as a director and producer (p. )
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55853-970-0 (hardcover)
1. Howard, Ron. 2. Motion picture producers and directorsUnited States Biography. 3. ActorsUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.
PN1998.3 .H689 G73 2003
791.43.'0233'092dc21 2002153251

Printed in the United States of America

03 04 05 06 075 4 3 2 1

TO MY FAMILY
my severest critics,
most trusted supporters,
and best friends

Contents

I could never have finished a project of this magnitude without help from many quarters. I deeply appreciate the contributions of Kelly Cutts, Selise E. Eiseman, Charles W. Fries, Noela Hueso, Wendy Madnick, Ron Magid, Gary Mednick, Judith Merians, Donie Nelson, Naomi Pfefferman, Jerry Purvis, Henry Seggerman, Gail Shenbaum, Ashley Wrobel, and especially Jim Clark, founder and guiding spirit of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. Through the magic of the Internet, I located an international group of friendly and knowledgeable Happy Days fans, among whom John Dagley of Melbourne, Australia, and Arianna Bianchi of Milan, Italy, have been particularly obliging. And of course I owe a large debt to everyone I interviewed for this biography.

My research into Ron Howards early years was hugely facilitated by Pee Wee Cary, director of the Stephens County Historical Museum in Duncan, Oklahoma. I would also like to thank the following for giving me access to their archives and collections: Albert L. Ortega; Holly Jones and Jeni Rosenthal at AP/World Wide Photos; Beverly Hills Public Library; Burbank (California) Historical Society; Burbank Public Library; Scott Baillie at Celebrity Archive Corporation; Anthony Sullivan at Getty Images; John Burroughs High School; Los Angeles Public Library; Amy Garawitz at the Museum of Television and Radio; Santa Monica Public Library; the UCLA Arts Library.

The Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was my home base for many months. Donovan Brandt helped me find what I needed among the vast resources at Eddie Brandts Saturday Matinee. At the University of Southern California, my questions were answered courteously and efficiently by Justin Wilson and Peter Pampusch of the School of Cinema-Television and by June Hudson in the office of the registrar. For assistance above and beyond the call of duty I must single out Mark Quigley, reference and outreach coordinator for the archive research and study center of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

James Robert Parish deserves special thanks for sharing his vast knowledge of the publishing world and for never allowing me to rest on my laurels. My agent, Stuart Bernstein, has been wonderfully diligent on my behalf; his words of wisdom and good cheer always prove to be eggs-actly right. At Rutledge Hill Press, Larry Stone has been a model of cordiality and common sense. I also appreciate the help Ive received from Rutledge Hills Jennifer Brett Greenstein, Christy OFlaherty, Bryan Curtis, Terri Woodmore, and especially Geoff Stone.

Within my circle of family and friends, Im grateful to everyone who has provided encouragement. My husband, Bernie Bienstock, has been my personal tech support system ever since the day a computer moved into our home. My son, Jeffrey, cheerfully accepted the duties of a research assistant. My daughter, Hilary, was living in Beijing, China, throughout the writing of this book. Nonetheless, she read every word of my text and gave me the benefit of her always-perceptive comments, in spite of eccentric keyboards in far-flung Internet cafes. Heartfelt thanks to all of them.

Sizing up Ron Howard should be as easy as pie. After all, everybody knows him. At least, we think we do. He has been coming into our living rooms for the past forty years, first as lovable Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and then as perennial teenager Richie Cunningham of Happy Days. Viewers too young to have caught his act the first time around have discovered his homespun charm through reruns. Others fell in love with his screen image as early as 1959, when he was first featured on network television. Baby-boomers, in particular, can chart the passage of their own youth in terms of Ronny Howard roles. During their childhood years, he was a plucky little boy. When they began moving out into the world, he was gingerly exploring life in high school and college. Now that Ron Howard is a full-fledged adult, with a family, a receding hairline, and a major career as a Hollywood film director, its no wonder that many of us still feel a sense of connection.

So familiar is Howard that members of the media tend to make sweeping generalizations about him. Some praise him as an American genius, while others dismiss him as little more than an overgrown Boy Scout. Kirk Honeycutt, film critic for the Hollywood Reporter, sees in Howards directing career the results of a life [lived] entirely within the cocoon of Hollywood. The general view is that Howard, as a highly successful product of the Hollywood studio system, naturally gravitates toward the kind of filmmaking that upholds the systems strengths, by relying on star power, a high technical gloss, and the assurance of mass appeal through a predictably upbeat ending.

Honeycutts use of the word cocoon is apt, because throughout Howards years in show business, the protective cocoon has been a recurring motif. Cocoon is, of course, the title of the 1985 film that moved Howard into the big leagues as a director. But even back in his acting days, his best-known roles could be said to cocoon him from the harsh realities of life. The happy hamlet of Mayberry was a cocoon of sorts, as was the whole nostalgia-fueled environment in which Richie Cunningham of Happy Days moved toward adulthood.

But this is only one side of the picture. Hes a lot more complicated than he seems.

I spoke to Ron Howard on January 29, 1999, while researching my book, Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking (Renaissance Books, 2000). He and I had a cordial, unhurried chat about the legendary low-budget filmmaker, who was both my former boss and the man who gave Howard his first directing gig.

When it was time to choose my next biographical project, I found myself intrigued by Howards own long career. No one else in Hollywood has so emphatically made the jump from child star to director. And his iconic status from his days as Opie and Richie continues to resonate, even while he directs award-winning motion pictures. Part of his appeal for me was that, in his journey from Opie to Oscar, there has never been the slightest whiff of scandal. As one veteran observer of the Hollywood scene told me, I have never heard a bad thing about Ron Howard. Never. Not that I was looking to write about a saintbut part of the challenge of a biography of Ron Howard would be locating the human core within the pristine image.

My great hope, of course, was that Howard would give my project his blessing. But I was hardly surprised when, speaking through his publicist, Howard politely announced his decision to keep his distance from this book. He said he felt himself to be in midcareer and not ready to participate in a long-range assessment of his accomplishments.