What was it like growing up in the spotlight? For Ron Howard – the famous director, actor and television icon who played the boy Opie Taylor in the hit 1960s series The Andy Griffith Show – the answer is always simple and sincere: “For me, it was completely normal, because it was the only childhood I ever had.”
Ron and his younger brother Clint Howard – also a child actor famous for playing the lead role in Gentle Ben when he was only 8 years old – reminisced about that special childhood in the memoir The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family. In the book, the two brothers not only tell the story of growing up in the film capital, but also open up many interesting, sometimes strange, stories about Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s.
The first lessons came from their parents
With no school, no professional acting coach – Ron and Clint were taught acting right at home. It was Ron’s father, Rance Howard, a veteran actor who had been on stage and in television since the 1950s, who first noticed his son’s acting talent. When Ron was in kindergarten, Rance took part in a traveling play and discovered that his son had an uncanny ability to memorize lines. He then introduced Ron to an MGM casting director and personally coached him for his first audition. “He coached us so hard,” Clint recalls, “that the crew almost never had to reshoot a scene because we got it wrong.”
Acting with Johnny Cash — and His Sweat
One of Ron’s most memorable experiences was starring opposite country legend Johnny Cash in the 1961 film Five Minutes to Live, in which Ron played a boy named Bobby who is taken hostage by robber Johnny Cabot (played by Cash). Cash, who was unfamiliar with the film industry, was so nervous that he was sweating. “I was soaked to the skin,” Ron recalled. “And then I realized: I was more comfortable on set than Johnny Cash.”
Ice Cream Isn’t Ice Cream — and the Art of Acting at a Six-Year-Old
The scene where Opie sits and enjoys ice cream on The Andy Griffith Show may look appealing, but it was actually an elaborate “trick” by the crew. To avoid melting the ice cream under the hot lights, the props staff replaced it with… cold mashed potatoes. “Imagine licking cold potatoes and still smiling as if you were eating real ice cream,” Ron Howard said. “That’s acting to be proud of!”
The Landline and Family Rules
In the pre-cell phone era, career opportunities could come at any time via a landline call. The Howards had a strict rule: from 9am to 6pm every day, at least one adult had to be home to take calls from the studios. Clint recalls with humor: “My parents were so frugal that they didn’t even hire an answering service!”
Memories of simple dinners and frugal living
Despite being child actors with a steady income, the Howards did not live lavishly. Their parents kept a tight rein on their finances, putting most of their earnings into savings, government bonds and trust accounts as required. The family often dined at home on simple dishes like meatballs, fried fish or sausages. Occasionally, they went out to eat at the Sizzler Steakhouse or the medieval-themed King’s Arms, which featured a sword embedded in a stone at the entrance.
School… on set
While filming The Andy Griffith Show, Ron attended school in a “mobile classroom” — a small room with wheels, plywood walls, a blackboard, and an American flag. Sometimes he was the only student. Other times, he was taught by Keith Thibodeaux — the boy who played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy, who also appeared in a few episodes as Opie’s friend.
Alien roles and warm grapefruit juice
Clint was offered the role of the alien Balok in the 1966 Star Trek episode The Corbomite Maneuver. The crew wanted to shave the 7-year-old’s head to create the character, but Clint refused, fearing that his classmates would tease him and that it would affect his future performance. At his father’s suggestion, a makeup artist created a rubber headgear for Clint. Still, he couldn’t resist the “space booze” in the film — which was actually warm grapefruit juice. “I just took a sip like a gentleman, and it made the scene more convincing,” Clint wrote. In the years that followed, Clint continued to appear in other Star Trek films.
A special stunt double—a dwarf in The Wizard of Oz
When he was filming Gentle Ben, Clint had a stunt double named Murray Wood – a small crew member who had played the Dwarf in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Wood, with his Van Dyke kit and snow-white curled mustache, was not only a reliable stand-in but was also invited by Clint’s father, Rance Howard, to play the scale manager in an episode. “Our crew was full of handy personalities,” Clint recalls. “I even learned how to catch frogs at night with a flashlight and a pickaxe from a crew member!”
