Ronald Howard In Happy Days

Ronald William Howard was born March 1st, 1954 in Duncan, Oklahoma. He is the older of two brothers. His parents, Rance Howard his father was an actor, director and writer, his mother Jean Howard was an actress, in 1959 his family relocated to Hollywood. Young Ron quickly joined the family business and his first television role was on an episode of "Playhouse 90" and was followed by an appearance on "The Red Skelton Show." He also was in four episodes of "Denis the Menace" and five shows of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." (Encarta)

Ron has the face that refused to age. No matter how much of his hair he looses, or how much of a beard he grows, he continues to have a boyish charm. For some viewers he is always remembered as Opie Taylor and to others as Richie Cunningham, while the more populated group of the
Happy Days was set in Milwaukee during the 1950's and mainly focused on the misadventures of the clean-cut Richie Cunningham (Howard). Most of the episodes showed Richie at home with his family or plotting schemes with his high school pals at the local hamburger shop, where the jukebox played rock-and-roll songs of this period. The show struggled in popularity for a while but was said to eventually thrive because of the "skill of the oldest young professional performer in television, Ron Howard." Instead the show increased its popularity by focusing on one of the supporting actors, the auto mechanic and high school dropout named Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Wrinler), mostly know as Fonzie or the Fonz. The leather jacketed tough guy ladies man was Richies mentor and definition of "cool." By the start of the 1975-76 season, Wrinkler had became the star of Happy Days in everything but name, and his character had become the biggest popular-culture icon in the