The “real pioneer” who made Ron Howard become a director
When Ron Howard was a young man, he had one dream: to become an acclaimed movie director. Howard’s introduction to the world of cinema came as a child actor in the likes of Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show, but he largely used this profession to achieve his most desired goals.
Howard would eventually become one of the most acclaimed directors of his generation, winning the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’ for his effort on 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, whilst also releasing the likes of Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon and Cinderella Man, proving that one can accomplish their hopes and dreams with enough hard work and determination, plus a little leg up in the industry from time to time.
But like any director, and even despite his early beginnings in the film industry, Howard had to begin somewhere, and his directorial debut arrived in 1977. The road action comedy movie Grand Theft Auto served as Howard’s introduction to the director’s chair, although it would take a further five years for him to release another film.
Eventually, success came with the likes of Night Shift, Splash and Cocoon, leading to his future acclaimed movies. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, Howard explained that between his directorial debut and his early successes, there was a television executive who helped the director achieve his goals.
Howard discussed his impression of NBC executive Deanne Barkley, stating, “She was the most powerful woman in the business at that time, a real pioneer, and she believed in actors’ transitioning into directing.” According to the director, Barkley thought that actors had a better understanding of the acting profession and, therefore, could direct movies that “had heart”.
Following the release of Grand Theft Auto, Barkley contacted Howard and asked him to make a series of TV movies during the off-season of Happy Days. “She was also going after big names from TV for the status and profile,” Howard said. “She gave Michael Landon and Beau Bridges chances.”
During that time, Howard was able to begin to understand the realities of filmmaking. “I learned a lot more about filmmaking and taking responsibility for an entire production,” he said, which set the future director up well for “a few years later when Brian Grazer and I formed Imagine Entertainment.”
It wasn’t too long after that before Howard got to make his second directorial feature, the 1982 comedy movie Night Shift, starring Michael Keaton and produced by Grazer. “Night Shift was his idea, and as a young guy who’d never done a feature film before, he did remarkable work to get it green-lit,” Howard admitted.
So, too, Grazer had the idea for Splash, which saw Tom Hanks perform in one of his breakthrough roles. From making Grand Theft Auto, which Howard admitted “was not the seriocomic masterpiece that I dreamed of launching my career with”, he was suddenly in the position of his dreams, getting to make movies with some of the hottest talents of the 1980s.
However, it’s fair to say that Howard might not have enjoyed his future success with the likes of A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 were it not for Deanne Barkley taking a chance on him and showing him the inner workings of the moviemaking machine at NBC, and for that reason, Howard will always be eternally grateful.
