When Paul Newman shut down Ron Howard’s dad: “I don’t fraternise”
If his son is anything to go by, Rance Howard must have been an incredibly lovely man. He enjoyed modest success as a theatre actor in the late 1940s and ’50s, but when his young son Ron got a part on The Andy Griffith Show in the ’60s, his career quickly shifted to that of a protective parental figure in an industry that is notorious for ruining the lives of child actors. He clearly did his job well, because Ron Howard grew up to be one of the most prolific directors of his generation and has never had a bad word to say publicly about his experience as a youngster in Hollywood.
That didn’t mean that Rance himself was as lucky in show business. After Howard became a television star, he continued to play small roles in movies like Chinatown and Splash. Eventually, he took part in his son’s movies, including Grand Theft Auto and Apollo 13.
One of his early experiences on set led to disappointment. In 1967, he played a peripheral part in Stuart Rosenberg’s Cool Hand Luke, which starred Paul Newman as a petty criminal and avowed free spirit who is sent to a brutal prison in rural Florida where he inspires his fellow inmates to rebel.
In an interview with Huffpost in 2012, Howard said that his experience working with the star was not what he expected. “I started out seeing him in the morning and saying, ‘Good morning, Mr Newman,'” Howard remembered. “He never acknowledged my greeting. In the evening I would say, ‘Good night, Mr Newman.’ At the very most, he would give me a bit of a nod. I continued that for two or three days until finally he said to me, ‘I don’t fraternise.'”
This somewhat devastating comment was not typical of Newman, who was often singled out by directors and co-stars for how normal he was compared to other actors. John Huston once rhapsodised about how down-to-earth and friendly he was compared to Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando, saying that he admired him greatly for how he lived his life. “I find no flaw, no fault in him,” Huston said, “As an actor or as a man.”
In all fairness, Cool Hand Luke was a challenging shoot for the star, who, though fiercely committed to the project, found Rosenberg’s direction to be challenging. For one of his most famous scenes, Newman learned how to play the banjo and practised until he was note-perfect, only for the director to intentionally throw him off in order to get the performance he wanted. Newman was also a method actor, so it’s possible that he was simply doing the standard method thing of being a jerk to everyone around him in order to stay in character.
Either way, the least surprising thing about this whole incident is how delightfully chipper Rance Howard was, even when he was playing a minor role in a film shot in unpleasant conditions with Hollywood’s biggest movie star. He clearly passed that optimism and faith in humanity on to his son, who has exuded a similar type of sunniness throughout his career.
