“Remember how we always said, ‘You can do it if you want, but you don’t have to?’ Well if you start this, you can’t quit’,” said Howard, recalling a conversation he had with his parents decades before. “You don’t have to do other parts on other shows, if you don’t want, but you’d have to keep doing this one.”
Explaining that he understood the message his parents were delivering, Howard adds, “I think it was pretty clear at that point that I was enjoying it, and I was good at it.”
Actually, he was great at it, and he was about to reach a level of stratospheric stardom.
Howard’s ‘Happy Days’
While starring in The Andy Griffith Show, Howard also appeared on the big screen in 1962’s The Music Man, a musical film that was a huge commercial success.
A natural talent, he then starred in 1973’s American Graffiti, which also starred Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss and Cindy Williams, whom he would work alongside in the future.
It was in 1974 when he was cast as Richie Cunningham in a new series created by Garry Marshall called Happy Days, which appeared on TV screens in homes across the world from 1974 to 1984.
The TV show spawned a few popular spin-offs like Laverne & Shirley, starring Williams and Marshall’s sister Penny, and Mork & Mindy with Robin Williams as Mork, the favorite Orkan.
High school sweetheart
It was in 1970 – before he won a Golden Globe for his performance as the innocent teenager on Happy Days – that Howard met the high school sweetheart, Cheryl Alley, whom he would marry in 1975.
“I met her, and there was never anybody else,” Speaking with People, the director of the Da Vinci Code continued, “She’s unbelievably supportive and always has been. Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.”
After 50 years of shared experiences, Howard, who earned an Oscar for directing A Beautiful Mind, commemorated the 50th anniversary of his first date with Cheryl on Instagram.
“Nov 1 1970 Cheryl & I went on our 1st date,” he wrote alongside a photo of himself wearing socks with images of Cheryl’s face. “We went to see a re-release of Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and then got some pizza at now defunct Barnone’s in Toluca Lake. Quite a start, right?”
He also shared their plans that day, “We’ll be driving in the same ‘70 VW Bug I picked Cheryl up in 5 decades ago. It runs great. So do we.”
His ‘good luck charm’
Cheryl made several cameos in Howard’s projects and even played herself on the TV comedy series Arrested Development, produced and narrated by Howard.
Speaking with the Television Academy, Ron called Cheryl his “good luck charm,” and explained that is why she appears in every film he makes.
“At a certain point, I became very superstitious about making sure that she appears, that she’s at least identifiable in one frame,” he said. “They don’t have to be big cameos, but she’s gotta be in there.”
In addition to bringing her husband some luck, Cheryl is also a published author who holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in screenwriting.
The power couple are grandparents to six children and the parents of four, daughter Bryce, twins Paige and Jocelyn and son Reed.
Bryce – a recognizable actor – is known for roles in movies like Jurassic World and The Help, while Paige made her feature film debut in the 2009 movie Adventureland. Since she’s appeared in films The Employer and Collection.
Reed is a professional golfer and Paige’s twin sister Jocelyn is very private.
The secret to longevity
Nearing their 49th anniversary on June 7, the Emmy Award-winning producer shares that “communication” is the secret to their enduring love.
“People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique,” Howard tells People. “There’s no tactic, other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways. Beyond that, there’s an element of luck because people either grow together or they don’t and I don’t think you can force that.”
9 Celebs Who Ditched Cosmetic Procedures and Decided to Return to a Natural Look
Many of us find flaws in our looks or want to stop the aging process. In such cases, we might turn to plastic surgery. However, these procedures don’t always guarantee that the results will be to our liking. Some celebrities have faced these problems too, and they’ve admitted to regretting going under the knife, preferring to not repeat the same mistake in the future.
1. Simon Cowell
“There was a stage where I might have gone a bit too far. I saw a picture of me from ’before’ the other day and didn’t recognize it as me, first of all,” the TV personality admitted last year. Since then, Simon Cowell vowed to never use fillers again and is trying to regain his natural looks. Cowell also confessed that he had overdone it with Botox when he tried the procedure, stating that he currently prefers more simple facials.
2. Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz is another Hollywood star who had Botox regrets. “It changed my face in such a weird way that I was like, ’No, I don’t want to be like that,’ — I’d rather see my face aging than a face that doesn’t belong to me at all,” the actress said. Since then, Diaz has fully embraced the natural aging process, especially her laugh lines, which, according to her, only prove that she has “smiled her whole life.”
3. Anna Faris
Unsatisfied with her thin lips, Anna Faris turned to fillers to make them look plumper. And although she never went overboard, she came to later regret the procedures, as she couldn’t go back to her original lip shape. On the other hand, the actress doesn’t regret the breast augmentation that she also had around the same time.
4. Jamie Lee Curtis
After constantly being told she had puffy eyes, Jamie Lee Curtis decided to go under the knife and change their look. She’s also tried Botox, but was unsatisfied with the results in both cases. Nowadays, Curtis is a huge advocate of aging gracefully and has famously said, “Why do you want to look 17 when you’re 70? I want to look 70 when I’m 70.”
5. Heidi Montag
Years ago, people were shocked to find out that Heidi Montag underwent 10 procedures in a single day. Because of so many surgeries in a very short period of time, her health also suffered. “I wish I had waited and not made a decision so young because I have long-term health complications,” she admitted years later, adding, “Plastic surgery isn’t something that should be glorified. Take it seriously.”
6. Reid Ewing
Before rising to fame as part of the cast of the successful sitcom, Modern Family, Reid Ewing felt dissatisfied with his looks and thought that changing them would help his career as well. In total, Ewing had 8 cosmetic procedures and later came to regret all of them. “I wish I could go back and undo all the surgeries. Now I can see that I was fine to begin with and didn’t need the surgeries after all.”
7. Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda opened up about getting a facelift, but also added that she’s not proud of it. The actress also decided to never undergo plastic surgery again, scared that she would end up looking “distorted.” Since then, Fonda has preferred to take care of herself in a simpler and more natural manner. “I don’t spend a lot of money on face creams or anything like that, but I stay moisturized, I sleep, I move, I stay out of the sun, and I have good friends who make me laugh,” she said.
8. Bella Hadid
Last year, the supermodel finally cleared up plastic surgery rumors when she admitted to having had a nose job when she was only 14 years old. Hadid confessed that when she was a teenager, she felt very insecure about her looks, and being the younger sister of Gigi Hadid didn’t help that. However, she now thinks she could have learned to love the nose she was born with and regrets changing it.
9. Melissa Gilbert
The Little House on the Prairie star had a breast augmentation and a nose job, as well as some Botox and fillers. But in more recent years, Gilbert decided to remove her breast implants and embrace her natural looks instead. “I had my breast implants removed, and I’m no longer doing fillers or Botox because I’m a 53-year-old woman, and I’m trying to embrace this process of aging,” she said back in 2018.
Have you ever considered plastic surgery? What do you think about these procedures?
Preview photo credit PopularImages / Depositphotos.com, camerondiaz / Instagram
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