Ron Howard called his wife the ''good luck charm'' in his movies
The two have been together since they were young.
To viewers of The Andy Griffith Show, Ron Howard was a star. But at school, he was just like any other kid. As a child actor, Howard's life changed when he was cast as Opie Taylor. Suddenly, he had fans.
"I learned cursive writing to sign autographs," Howard said during an interview with USA Today. "Early on, I remember people having to sort of patiently sit there tapping their toes as I wrote out R-O-N. It took forever."
You might assume that being one of the stars of a hit television series would lead to endless envy and idolization from your peers, but according to Howard, it simply isn't so. While Howard spent much of his adolescence and early adulthood on screen, he found that it didn't do him any favors as a child.
"It doesn't necessarily lead to popularity among kids, among your peers," said Howard. "Later on, if you're the cool guy in the band or in the TV show and you can get girls, that's a much different thing than being in the fourth or fifth grade."
Even worse, Howard found that as he started getting older, he was being refused roles more and more frequently. "It's really tough as you go through adolescence because the industry stops hiring you," said Howard. "Not only are you gawky, but legally they can't work you for as many hours. So if they hire someone who's eighteen who can play sixteen, they don't need pimply you at sixteen."
One person who absolutely adored Howard during this time was his future wife, Cheryl. The two met during high school, and have been together ever since. "She's in everything, going back to my Super-8 days," Howard said of his wife. "She's a good luck charm."