Ron Howard

At the age of twenty three, Ron Howard had one of the most recognized faces in America. His year's starring in "The Griffith Show" and "Happy Days" made him familiar to many American's. Howard has become very successful from starring in shows to actually producing them. Howard's movies became quickly recognized due to the diversity of the movies that he produced. Howard generated spooky sensations in "The Missing", gave the audience an idea of what it would be like in "Apollo 13", and covey's the tricky intellect of Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind".

Ron Howard's life defining moment came when he was the age of five. In 1960 little Ronny Howard was discovered by Sheldon Leonard to play a part in his situational comedies from the "Andy Griffith Show". Howard played the youngest son in the series, even though the film took of lot out of the kid who was under the age of ten. Howard says, "They often rearranged the shooting schedule so that I could go play little league or whatever, it was fantastic" (Warn). Howard played Opie Taylor who became an icon of American boy-hood who grew up in the 60's. Child star Ronny Howard then grew to the top.

With a diverse group of films created over the past decade, including Splash, Cocoon, Parenthood, Back draft, Far and Away, and Apollo 13, Howard has really established himself at the top of the ranks amongst other producers. Ron Howard is different than other producers because he views directing as a process of discovery. He says, "One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges" (warn).One of the challenges that he faced while producing Apollo 13 , was that everyone knew the outcome of the story. The one thing that Howard really did to make the movie a complete success was the