I’m four or five years older than Ron Howard, but when I see him or watch one of the movies he’s directed, I feel like I almost grew up with the guy. For those of us of a certain age, our relationship with “Ronny” Howard began with the still wonderful-to-watch The Andy Griffith Show, but that was far from Ron Howard’s first venture into movies and television. That is, however, where the Ron Howard clean-cut image began taking form before being further strengthened by smash hits like the George Lucas film American Graffiti and the hit television series Happy Days. Ron Howard seemed to us to be the ideal All-American boy even though some may have suspected that the image was just too good to be true.
Well, they were wrong. Ron Howard really was the All-American boy he appeared to be on film. And strangely enough, before I read The Boys, the new biography/memoir by Ron and Clint Howard, I ran across quite a few negative comments saying that The Boys makes for pretty boring reading. Why? Because all the love in his family, their work ethic, and their success in the business became too plain vanilla to hold a reader’s attention for a whole book. They were hoping for some dirt on the Howard family, and they were obviously disappointed not to find much of it there. (I do have to believe that some of the book’s harshest critics quit reading before Clint Howard opened up about his alcohol and drug abuse problems, however.)
The Boys is co-written by the Howard brothers, although Ron, as you would expect, gets the bulk of the page count. That doesn’t, however, mean that Clint does not contribute to the flow of their memoir. In fact, the contrasting views of the two authors combine to tell a family story that neither of them could have come close to telling as accurately or as movingly on their own.
And it’s pretty much all there. Both men cover their individual careers in some detail, offering stories and insights that only they are privy to. Ron hits all the highlights, especially his Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, American Graffiti, and Music Man highlights. He also explains where, and when, his great desire to become a movie director originated, and how lucky he considers himself to be that he was able, ultimately, to live his true dream. Clint Howard’s work will likely surprise some readers because he has accumulated some 200 movie and television credits since he began acting as a toddler, including, of course, the Gentle Ben television series. Clint whole heartedly embraces his status as a character actor, and it has translated into a career that has served him well for over fifty years now.
Personally, what I find most compelling about The Boys is learning about the personal sacrifices that the Howard parents made so that their boys could find and earn their places in life. Those sacrifices were numerous, and as it turns out, they were well worth it.
Bottom Line: The Boys will be of particular interest to fans of Ron Howard’s acting and movie directing talents but, really, the best thing about the book is the way the boys credit their parents for their success. That Jean and Rance Howard were able to give their sons a relatively normal upbringing while working in an industry that so often destroys families is remarkable. The critics are right: with a couple of exceptions, this is a feel-good book…just what I needed as we close out a year like the one 2021 turned out to be.
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| Ron & Clint Howard |
I'm glad to know that Ron Howard is as nice a person in real life as he's always seemed on TV. And I think it's cool that he and his brother wrote this book together. :)
ReplyDeleteI so completely bought into his clean-cut image that I was kind of relieved to learn that he is every bit the man I thought he was. Clint is about five years younger...and he managed to get away with all the things that Ron would not have gotten away with as the first child. As a first-born, I know exactly how that works. LOL
DeleteHa, that's pretty amusing that people found the book boring. It's true, many readers are always looking for the dramatic story of people doing bad things, or terrible tragedies happening. A story where everything goes well and people are decent and nice, well that isn't as exciting! but sometimes it's what you need to hear.
ReplyDeleteI think their disappointment in the "boring story" is a reflection on the times we live in. Bad news sells advertising, so that's mostly what we are exposed to these days. And now, nothing less will satisfy us. Kind of sad.
DeleteThis sounds like a really good BIO and, I wouldn't expect to read anything unsavory about Ron Howard who always seemed like a clean-cut, all American icon. I feel the same way about Sally Field and Meryl Streep.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nicely constructed book, Diane, with the two brothers alternating their thoughts on different phases of their family lives. It's striking how their five year age difference has them seeing the same events so differently at various points in the family history.
DeleteLike you, I sort of feel as though I grew up with Ron. Not so much with Clint because I never watched his show. But it doesn't surprise me at all to learn that they are as clean cut as their reputations with, as you say, maybe a couple of exceptions. They surely are a credit to the parents who raised them.
ReplyDeleteI was way less familiar with Clint, too, and never watched Gentle Ben. I've noticed for years that Clint is in every movie that Ron directs, and now I understand why. It's a tradition going all the way back to the backyard movies Ron was directing as a kid...those included his dad, too.
DeleteWas there ever a cuter little fellow than Ron Howard! He was great on the Andy Griffth show and went on to a very successful career as a director. I had not heard of Clint but then after reading your post I googled Clint Howard and I immediately recognized him from TV shows I have seen. It sounds like Ron and Clint are not only brothers but good friends to this day and that's really nice.
ReplyDeleteClint does seem to have been everywhere on TV and in the movies for decades. As a character actor, his roles are most often relatively short ones, but I always look for him in any Ron Howard directed film because I know he will be there. The guys do sound like they are good friends.
DeleteSuper post
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI came across 'Clint' Howard on TV a long while before his more famous brother because we didn't get Ron's various TV appearances over here. Clint appeared on an episode of Star Trek back in the 1960s and it wasn't until 'many' years later that I found out he was Ron Howard's brother. So pleased the autobiography is enjoyable and has very little nastiness.
ReplyDeleteClint mentions his first Star Trek appearance in the book. He was six years old at the time, and he portrayed a 600-year-old man. He's relatively famous for his Star Trek appearances among the Trekies to this day.
DeleteMy family enjoyed watching Happy Days together while I was growing up. Ron Howard has always seemed like a great, down-to-earth kind of guy. Glad to know that's his real personality, not just an image.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, Susan, and hard to believe that someone like Ron Howard could have come out of child-acting as normal as he is today...despite still working in the industry that has destroyed so many people's lives.
DeleteI'm glad to hear they had a happy family & upbringing. Thank goodness! Too much of Hollywood is stories of broken homes & addiction. Seems like a good story. I was a fan of American Graffiti .... and Happy Days.
ReplyDeleteThey had exceptional parents, especially the way that both parents were willing to postpone their own acting careers until their sons were done as child actors. Little did they know that both boys would still be working so steadily some 60 years later.
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