"The Boys" by Ron Howard & Clint Howard

Since I enjoyed Hayley Mills's memoir so much, I decided to immediately tackle another child star memoir released last fall. "The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family" was written by not just one but two of Hollywood's most famous child stars of the 1960s & 1970s -- Ron Howard (of "The Andy Griffith Show" and, later, "Happy Days") and his younger brother Clint, whom I remember watching in "Gentle Ben."  Ron's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard -- also an actress, and the third generation to enter the family business -- provided an affectionate introduction.  The two Howards alternate telling their stories, with occasional interjections into each other's memories.  

Ron & Clint's parents, Jean & Rance Howard (born Harold Beckenholdt), were born and raised in Oklahoma (introduced at university by classmate Dennis Weaver -- who later played Clint's dad on "Gentle Ben"!), but headed to New York and then Hollywood in pursuit of fame & fortune. While both continued to act in small/character roles (Rance later branched out into writing and directing too), their own careers took a backseat when first Ron and then Clint also became actors at very young ages. Rance patiently coached both of them, helping them learn their lines before they could read, explaining what was happening in each scene and what was expected of them, and accompanied them on set. 

Both Ron & Clint give full credit to their parents for providing them with a solid grounding of Midwest values, a modest, ordinary home life, and a focus on hard work and professionalism. Unlike Hayley Mills and other child stars of the era, the money Ron & Clint earned was wisely invested for their futures, with Rance & Jean taking a minuscule 5 per cent as compensation for their services. (In one chapter, 12-year-old Ron realizes, with a shock, that between his salary on the "The Andy Griffith Show" plus residuals, he was earning more money annually than his baseball hero, Sandy Koufax.)  

As you might expect, there are some great stories about the movies and TV shows both boys worked on, including anecdotes about their famous co-stars, and the life lessons they learned along the way.  Even as a child, Ron was fascinated by what went on behind the scenes on the set of the Griffith show -- how the shots were lit and set up, the special effects used and so on. The show's  producers gave him an 8mm movie camera for his 8th birthday, which he used to make his own home movies (often starring his brother and his dad). Eventually, of course, he became one of the most well-known and respected directors and producers in the business. 

While Ron has maintained his wholesome Opie/Richie image, he confesses to some un-Opie-like behaviour. His dad taught him to fight to help counter the bullying he received in school. He admits to his guilt over teasing his mother at times, and confesses to ignoring a summons to report for an army physical, a prelude to being drafted and likely sent to Vietnam.  (The draft ended shortly afterward.) Clint struggled with alcohol, pot and then cocaine from his teen years onward, finally achieving sobriety in 1991.  

Like Hayley Mills's memoir, this book effectively ends well before present day, after Ron's first major directing job for Roger Corman ("Grand Theft Auto") and his departure from "Happy Days." The last 40 years are dispensed with in a few pages that bring us up to date on what's happened since then. I will admit to shedding a few tears in the Epilogue, in which the brothers describe their parents' final years & deaths.  Their love, respect and gratitude is evident in every page of this book.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.  

*** *** *** 

ALI alert:  Ron & Clint had an older brother:  Mark Allan Howard, Rance & Jean's first child, was stillborn on Jean's birthday in January 1953. He had a congenital heart defect, and would not have lived long even if he had been born alive. "Forever after, she never much enjoyed [her birthday]. Ron and I didn't know why when we were kids, though," Clint writes. "Our folks rarely discussed Mark with us. He was simply too painful a subject for them. Not until we were adults -- after Mom had died, in fact -- did Dad tell us the complete version of what happened."  

Jean had a later miscarriage (in her early 40s, I think?), a few weeks after telling the boys she was pregnant.  

Ron also writes with great affection about Mrs. Barton, his teacher on the set of "The Andy Griffith Show," who (so far as he knew) did not have children. 

This was Book #10 read to date in 2022 (and Book #5 finished in February), bringing me to 22% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2022 tagged as "2022 books."