The Boys by Ron Howard and Clint Howard

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

As someone who more or less grew up with Opie Taylor and “Gentle Ben,” I have been aware of the Howard Boys most of my life.  Who knew that Opie/Ritchie Cunningham would end up being a director—especially an Academy Award winning director?

Part of the appeal has always been that these two have seemed so, well, normal. Wholesome.  Good guys we’d like to know.  There have been so many child actors who have had miserable lives, yet these two seem to have not only survived but thrived. So I was intrigued when I learned that the two had written a book, and picked it up when it arrived. I decided to read just a few pages and then let it go on out.

Well, the few pages turned into a lot of pages.  It is an extremely easy book to get into; the tone is conversational but also personal, which is why I feel I can call them by their first names.  They alternate telling their stories in brief installments, starting at the beginning of their lives.  Their parents were both actors who had headed West in hopes of making it big.  Unlike many stage parents, however, neither Rance (formerly Harold Beckenholdt) nor Jean Speegle Howard sought to live vicariously through their children.  They did instill a work ethic and Rance had a novel approach to training young actors in order to get more natural reactions from them, but neither child ever felt pressured to work or to support the family.

Part of the appeal is the universality of their stories.  Ron writes about his first date with Cheryl, the girl with whom he became besotted in high school, which took place on November 1, 1970.  He writes, “The night before, I had covered my face in green makeup with dark circles around my eyes and had gone out trick-or-treating with my six-foot tall friends, still idiotically excited about free candy.  This on the eve of my first date with the woman I would end up marrying.”  That strikes a chord with many of us who can remember the excitement of trick or treating even as we began to suspect we might be a little old for this. . . but hey, dressing up and free candy!

While Ron is arguably the better known brother, Clint has his own claims to fame.  He was the seven year old star of “Gentle Ben,” a TV series about a boy and his bear—a real bear.  Dennis Weaver played his father and Rance Howard had a role as Weaver’s friend.  The bear was played by Bruno, a 650 pound black bear who was bribed with sweets into his performances.

Of course, one highlight for me was hearing about Clint’s role in “Star Trek” as the alien Balok.  He also answers the burning question, “What was tranya like?” (Pink grapefruit juice, to encourage Clint to sip and not guzzle.)

If you’re looking for Hollywood dirt, you won’t find it here, though you will find honesty.  Not all the famous performers liked children, for example; and sets could be a bit raunchy, even with the boys present.  This honesty extends to Ron and Clint themselves.  They tended to see their mom as being overprotective and gave her a bit of grief over it, something Ron especially feels guilty about today.  Clint also had a problem with substance abuse, struggling with it over the years.

The book is heavily weighted toward their growing up years, thought there is some discussion of their adult lives. They also deal with the difficulty young actors experience as they grow up and the cute little kid turns into a gawky teen. The book is extremely readable, and fun.  There’s an index so you can check out the material about Andy Griffith or Henry Fonda or John Wayne, if you don’t read it straight through.  But I think you would certainly enjoy it if you did.