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Ron Howard looks back on 65 years at Maybury!
Speaking to people at the 25th anniversary gala of Yes Scholars in Los Angeles, the 71-year-old Happy Days alumni celebrates Andy Griffith Shows Anniversary, celebrating 65 years since its 1960 premiere in October.
For Howard, looking back at the series brings some of his favorite childhood memories, but he admits that he doesn’t remember everything about the series.
“It represents my childhood,” he says of the show. “And there were other aspects to my development. My brother Clint and I published a book called Boys a few years ago. He was also a child actor.
“But to consider that it’s 65 years,” he adds. “That’s pretty amazing.”
According to the director, it has been several years since the Andy Griffith Show premiere.
“It’s my childhood,” he reaffirms. “And I don’t remember everything about it, but I remember well, and I’m really grateful that those memories are attached.”
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Howard played Opie on the Andy Griffith Show from 1960 to 1968. The show starred Griffiths, who died in 1986 in 2012.
Howard appeared in another beloved television series, Happy Days, but eventually pivoted to direct a film like Splash, Apollo 13, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Beautiful Heart.
The Oscar winner returned to Andy Griffith’s show in 1986 to share it with people, telling his co-stars and producers that one day they wanted to be “writer-producer-director” so they bought his first camera.
In an interview with Vulture last month, the actor-turned-director said that by “growing” on the set of the show, he gave him “many advantages” because his environment was “super creative.”
“The show looks very simple, but this was all about this very accurate problem solving,” he told the outlet. “You’ll see the scene suddenly become interesting or work because it wasn’t happening in front of the audience, and even though we were working right away, it was true that Andy wanted.
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Although Howard has mostly paid attention to the recent director, he has worked on films such as the survival thriller Eden, Thirteen Life. It tells the true story of a rescuer who saved 12 adolescent footballers and coaches in recent years after being trapped in flood caves such as Hillbilly Elegy.
Speaking to people in March, he teased that he “want to act,” but he didn’t see that in his future. “I happened to play myself in upcoming episodes of the studio. It was a lot of fun doing that…but it’s hard to make time.”
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What would seduce him to return to acting? his daughter, actor director Bryce Dallas Howard.
“If my daughter Blythe throws me at anything, I think it’s going to have to put me instructive obligations and show up with a little hold on those,” he said of her daughter.
“But otherwise, between what’s going on in my company, between Imagine Entertainment, between Brian Glaser and our team, and what I personally try to be manager, I want to keep the calendar full of exciting ways and I want to be successful,” he added. “I want to concentrate.”
“I’m just really enthusiastic and positive about what I’m doing,” he said.
