Few people in Hollywood can say they’ve been in the industry for as long as Ron Howard. You might know him best as a director, having helmed titles as diverse as Apollo 13 and How The Grinch Stole Christmas – or perhaps you recognise him from his role in Happy Days during the 1970s – but Howard has been working in the industry before he even had a firm grasp on the English language.
His first on-screen appearance came when he was just two years old in the 1956 film Frontier Woman, although his first credited part arrived in 1959 with a small role in The Journey. The child actor continued to find small parts in television and cinema over the coming years, before breaking through with his portrayal of Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show.
Howard racked up quite an impressive amount of credits as a youngster, even if he has since admitted that being a child in Hollywood wasn’t the easiest world to navigate. Talking to People, he revealed, “It’s possible for child performers to really find a lot that is positive within it, but it’s fraught with landmines.” The actor was resistant to letting his own kids become child stars as a result, even though his early entry into the industry proved to be incredibly important to his career.
During his tenure as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, the actor made his directorial debut with 1977’s Grand Theft Auto. It starred himself in the leading role, while Nancy Morgan, Garry Marshall, Elizabeth Rogers, and Barry Cahill also appeared in supporting parts. Unfortunately, it was not a success with critics, even if it fared surprisingly well at the box office. The movie certainly wasn’t reflective of Howard’s abilities as a director, and he would soon go on to prove that he was much better than his debut with his next release, Night Shift.
In fact, it was the 1982 film that made Howard finally realise that directing was his true calling. The movie received great acclaim, and he knew from then on that this was a career he could pursue instead of acting. He once explained to CBS News, “I just loved directing. I loved it. And the first one I directed, I had to be in [to finance it]. I didn’t enjoy that. I didn’t feel I was quite a strong enough actor. I felt in a lot of ways [directing] was a more complete reflection of who I am, what I like to do.”
Night Shift instead starred Henry Winkler, Shelley Long, and Michael Keaton, and follows a young man who works at a morgue. When his new colleague has the bright idea to let a prostitute use the place as a brothel, events naturally turn rather strange and darkly comedic. Howard was praised for the film, and he has since gone on to find great success as a director.
He followed Night Shift with Splash, starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, which was another huge success. It became one of the most popular movies of the year, leading him to further acclaim with projects like Cocoon and Willow. By the 2000s, he had a ‘Best Director’ Oscar under his belt for A Beautiful Mind, proving himself to be much more suited to being a filmmaker than an actor.
