Ron Howard

 Born March 1, 1954, Ronald William Howard is an American screenwriter, producer and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor appearing in a variety of television shows including an episode of The Twilight Zone. He was the teen Opie Taylor who played the character of the son of Sheriff Andy Taylor from 1960 until 1968 on The Andy Griffith Show. In that time He was also a part of the musical film The Music Man (1962) that was a commercial and critical success. From 1959 until 1973, Howard was referred to as Ronny Howard. Howard was cast as one of the main parts in the film about coming of age American Graffiti (1973), and became famous for playing Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days, a role he would play from 1974 until 1980.In the year 1980, Howard left Happy Days to concentrate on directing, writing and producing several films and television series. He directed the comedy films Night Shift (1982), Splash (84), and Cocoon (85) and Cocoon (85) as well as the romantic Willow (1988).