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Here's how Ron Howard felt about working with John Wayne in The Shootist
The Duke and Opie, onscreen together!
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When people discuss Ron Howard's career, they typically focus on one of three topics. There's, of course, his earliest successes as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, where he won the hearts of millions by listening to his paw and being a good boy.
People also talk a lot about Howard as Richie Cunningham, the main character (and audience surrogate) on Happy Days. There is also the matter of his prolific career as a director, where he has racked up one of the most consistent filmographies in Hollywood history.
However, many people do not discuss Howard's role in The Shootist alongside Western legend John Wayne.
Back in 1976, while Happy Days was on hiatus, Howard was at a crossroads in his career. He was not yet the director he wanted to be. While he experimented with making short films, Howard wasn't known as the bankable filmmaker he'd come to be in the following decade. So, he had to continue taking acting roles, even though his true passion was being behind the camera.
Fresh off the Roger Corman production Eat My Dust, Howard was cast as Gillam in The Shootist. Wayne was set to star as J. B. Books, an old gunslinger in the last days of his life. As he winds down his days as a shootist, Books moves into a boardinghouse, where he meets Gillam, the owner's son.
Barbara Kramer's 1998 biography Ron Howard: Child Star & Hollywood Director splits the difference between its title topics and quotes Howard discussing his time on set with Wayne in The Shootist.
"I went into the movie expecting I wouldn't have a good time doing it," said Howard. "John Wayne was notorious for not getting along with young actors."
Fortunately for Howard, the elder actor took to him immediately.
"I was 21 years old at the time and he always called me 'old 21' on the set," Howard remembered. "He never ever made mee feel like a kid."
During pauses in production, Wayne and Howard would busy themselves playing chess. Reportedly, Wayne won most of those games.
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