The production that Ron Howard faced massive “disrespect” on
Very few cinema icons can perform both in front of and behind the camera, with Ron Howard being part of an exclusive club that only includes a few occupants, including Greta Gerwig, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney and Sarah Polley. Rising to success in the early 1960s, Howard first started his industry reign in TV before transitioning his talents behind the camera.
Whilst movies are his forte in the modern industry, working with the likes of Tom Hanks, Chris Hemsworth and Russell Crowe on such classic movies as Apollo 13, In the Heart of the Sea and A Beautiful Mind, Howard is better known on screen for his work in television. Taking to the industry as a young boy, Howard found great success in the beloved family series The Andy Griffith Show.
Appearing on the show from 1960 to 1968, Howard took his expertise on The Andy Griffith Show to a number of other long-running productions, such as The Smith Family in 1971 and, in particular, Happy Days in 1974, the series that would make him a star. Playing the loveable Richie Cunningham in the series that followed a family living through the 1950s with the help of their friend Fonzie.
So successful was the show that he left film school to pursue it, Howard quickly found himself on tour with the production to promote it across the country, but he soon caught on to the studio’s true priorities.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show in 2021, he stated: “When we would go out of the road to promote the show, it was just insane, focused on Fonzie, clearly that was very exciting,” Howard recalled, speaking about Henry Winkler’s iconic character.
Continuing, he added, “The executives, studio heads, network heads, you know, they started treating me with a lot of disrespect from a business standpoint [and] in terms of interaction”.
When the studio decided to change the name of the show to Fonzie’s Happy Days, Howard decided to move on, adding: “I certainly didn’t feel it within our friendship, which endures to this day…More than anything, it reminded me…to pursue my own dream…which was to be in charge of productions, the stories I wanted to tell and be the filmmaker”.
Take a look at Howard on The Graham Norton Show, where he appeared alongside Miriam Margolyes, Paul Rudd and Stephen Fry.
