Ron and Clint Howard remember their Oklahoma dad on Father’s Day

Ron and Clint Howard didn’t grow up in Oklahoma or ever really live in the Sooner State.

But they know they belong to the land.

“Mom and Dad both were born and raised in Oklahoma. Dad spent a little bit of his time on farms in Kansas, but primarily, he would consider himself an Okie,” Clint Howard, 63, said via Zoom.

“I think a lot of their sensibilities and a lot of their values that they ended up developing and carrying with them to Hollywood of all places were rooted in this kind of Midwestern Zen.”

Thanks to the lasting legacy of Rance and Jean Howard, one of Hollywood’s most fruitful families remains rooted in Oklahoma red dirt even as its influence continues to grow.

If it can be made for the screen, the Howards have excelled at it, from beloved television shows (“The Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days,” “Gentle Ben”) and cult-classic movies (“Ice Cream Man,” ” Carnosaur,” “Grand Theft Auto”) to award-winning films (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Apollo 13,” “Frost/Nixon”) and some of the biggest entertainment franchises ever launched (“Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” “Jurassic World”).

But if their parents hadn’t met at college in Norman and followed their dreams from there, Ron Howard, 68, said he and his brother might have just as easily become Oklahoma farmers as the actors, producers and TV icons they are today

“Even though I never lived in Oklahoma, I’ve always been quick to say I’m from Oklahoma, because I just feel the cultural reverberations of the state and the people,” Ron told The Oklahoman.

Howard brothers’ memoir recalls parents’ first meeting at OU

Released last fall, the Howard brothers’ joint biography “The Boys” is subtitled “A Memoir of Hollywood and Family.” But Clint said the book is practically a love letter to their parents.

Born Harold Beckenholdt, Rance Howard, who hailed from a farm near Shidler, met his future bride, Jean Speegle, a Duncan native from a merchant family, when they were paired up at a 1947 drama class at the University of Oklahoma.

“Dennis Weaver, who was an upperclassman at the University of Oklahoma, he was the one that actually introduced them to each other. Of course, we never could quite get the full story from Dad, but sparks really flew,” said Clint, who as a boy co-starred with Weaver on the series “Gentle Ben.”

“Ron and I, we heard a lot of the stories from Mom and Dad, and then it was wonderful for us to take a little deeper dive as we did the research for the book to really try to capture what their love story was. … Ron and I both were just absolutely blessed to be the children of those two people.”

In 2020, OU announced that Ron Howard had gifted $90,000 to the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts to establish a scholarship to support students in its Helmerich School of Drama who come from rural areas across the country. The scholarship is named in honor of Rance and Jean and their small-town roots, a memorial the two-time Oscar winner said his family heartily approved.

“Bryce, I just mentioned it to (her) at one point, and I remember her saying, ‘Dad, you’ve just got to do that,'” Ron said, referring to the oldest of his four children, Bryce Dallas Howard, a star of the blockbuster “Jurassic World” movies and director on the hit “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian.”

“She so appreciates that she grew up with access to a field that she would eventually make her life’s work. I never wanted to put that pressure on any of the kids, but she found it and has really loved it. I see a lot of both of them in her.”

Rance and Jean Howard took a fairytale route to New York and California

Soon after they became a couple, Rance and his future bride left OU to pursue their acting dreams and landed jobs with a traveling children’s theater troupe. They married on Oct. 5, 1948, during a Kentucky tour stop, with Rance decked out in a plaid suit, Jean dressed in a modified Cinderella costume and the six little person actors in the company as their groomsmen.

The newlyweds headed to New York, where Rance got his big break when he was cast as Lindstrom in the original Broadway hit “Mister Roberts.” But the Korean War intervened: While Rance was serving in the Air Force Special Services in Illinois, Jean went back to Duncan to deliver Ron, who was born March 1, 1954, in his mother’s hometown.

By the time Clint arrived on April 20, 1959, the family had settled in Burbank, California, and Ron was already an in-demand child actor. His younger brother soon followed into show business.

“Clint was the best child actor of his generation. Clint was a better young actor than I was. I had great roles, and I was good. … But Clint was uncanny in his honesty, and yet really interesting to watch,” Ron said via Zoom, as his brother shook his head.

Rance Howard becomes the ‘child whisperer’ to his acting sons

In the book, the brothers call their father “the child whisperer” and their mother the “child whisperer’s whisperer,” detailing how Rance taught them as youngsters to run their lines, create authentic performances and adjust to on-set distractions without applying undue pressure, while Jean supported her husband through the ebbs and flows of his acting career.

By the 1960s, both Howard boys were familiar faces on TV, with Ron starring on “The Andy Griffith Show,” followed by “Happy Days” in the 1970s and ’80s, while Clint starred on “Gentle Ben” and played memorable guest roles on “Star Trek” and “Andy Griffith.”

“On several instances when I was a kid, where real emotion had to be churned up for a particular scene … Dad had this way of draping his arm around my shoulder and bringing me close to him. … And he would begin to just gently talk with me about the emotion needed,” Clint recalled.

“He would discuss with me what the character was going through, and if need be, he would discuss with me sad things in my life. He had this absolutely beautiful way of getting me to this emotional spot where I could just then let it go. … It would be very successful, and I’d be so appreciative because my dad was there to get me to that emotional spot — and then also bring me back.”

Awkward baseball practices score favorite father-son memories

Although Rance showed enough promise as a young pugilist that he briefly considered a professional boxing career, Ron said his dad didn’t have much interest in team sports. But he was interested in ensuring that his working sons had time and opportunity for childhood fun.

“I fell in love with the idea of of playing baseball. … I needed something other than being Opie to define me within my neighborhood — and Dad could see this,” Ron recalled.

Although Rance didn’t like baseball, he would pitch batting practice for his older son three days a week before Ron would head to the “Andy Griffith” set.

“He can barely throw; his style, his form, is a little ridiculous. But even as an 11-year-old boy, I had nothing but respect and appreciation for the fact that he was just out there — and there’s probably one of the last places on Earth he would ever want to be.”

When Clint took up baseball at age 9, he showed an aptitude for pitching — and Rance demonstrated a similar devotion to helping his younger son hone his skills.

“He built a home plate out of plywood, and he put it on the cement. I would go back to the appropriate distance, and I would pitch to him,” Clint recalled. “Dad would spend hours and hours hunching behind (that) piece of plywood. … Awkward is probably a very kind word to say about Dad’s baseball skills — but he was effective.”

Rance and Jean passed on Heartland values to their Hollywood family

Both parents also were effective at sharing their Oklahoma values — their dogged determination, robust work ethic and unwavering devotion to their family — with their Hollywood sons.

“They were proud of that heritage,” Ron said. “I don’t think they would have liked to have been from anywhere else any better — and it did shape us.”

Although Clint continued to primarily pursue acting — he has earned more than 250 credits — his elder brother made his directorial debut under legendary producer Roger Corman with 1977’s “Grand Theft Auto.” Ron also co-wrote that script with his father and started his long-running tradition of casting family in his films, with Rance and Clint both playing roles.

Over the past four decades, Ron has helmed more than 30 films, including the acclaimed 1995 historical drama “Apollo 13,” the 2001 Academy Award-winning biopic “A Beautiful Mind” and the 2018 spin-off “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” His 1992 epic “Far and Away” starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as Irish immigrants who seek their fortune in Oklahoma Territory, where they take part in the Land Run of 1893.

“The course of the family was really tremendously changed and altered by our parents meeting at OU,” Ron said. “Their success is an unlikely one, in that they didn’t know anybody, they didn’t really know what they were doing. But they knew enough to get to OU, and they met friends and collaborators that were significant in their lives for the rest of their lives. And that’s no small thing.”

The couple was married almost 52 years, parting only with Jean’s death on Sept. 2, 2000, at the age of 73.

Rance died on Nov. 25, 2017, just a few days after his 89th birthday, and his death inspired his sons to write their memoir.

“He was, far and away, my best friend. … He was always my dad, but we just developed a friendship that I treasure,” Clint said. “You know, (it’s) Father’s Day, and he was a Hall of Fame father.”

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