Ron Howard

May 19, 1997

Howard is one of the few cases of "TV-star-makes-good-as-director" in the entertainment world (see also Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner). Born on March 4, 1954, Howard became famous on TV at the age of 6 as Andy Griffith's son, Opie, on the popular 1960's TV show The Andy Griffith Show. After that, he starred in the smash hit American Graffiti (1973), which helped land him his second biggest Television role, as 1950's teen Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.

He made his directorial debut in 1977, but did not hit it big until the hilarious comedy Night Shift (1982), which made a star out of Michael Keaton. Hit after hit seemed to follow. Splash (1984), a modern day fairy tale about a beautiful mermaid (Darryl Hannah); Cocoon (1985), a fountain-of-youth fantasy; Willow (1988), a popular children's fantasy; And Parenthood (1989), one of the most humorously honest films about raising children.

The 1990's have been quite good to Howard's career, with such films as the pyromanical Backdraft (1991) and the space opera Apollo 13 (1995). The 1996 thriller Ransom was just another bonus to a flourishing directorial career.

My rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 8

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