I’ve always felt a strong affinity for Ron Howard. I literally grew up with him; he was born the same year I was — in fact the same month. I’ve always felt that if I passed him on the street, we could strike up a conversation like old buddies. I imagine millions of Americans feel the same way about him, having watched him grow up as Opie and Richie Cunningham. Watched a nice documentary about him last night on Turner Classic Movies. The tagline of the piece was “50 years in film.” Can you imagine being 54 and having been in the movie biz for 50 of those years?

Ron talked repeatedly in the piece about seeing his directorial role primarily as a storyteller. The headline of this entry is a pretty close paraphrase of what he said about his early education on “The Andy Griffith Show.” He noted that that gig was serious show business. No one phoned it in. Ron learned about the hard work that goes into telling a good story.

Having seen most of Ron’s films, I’m convinced that his hard work has made him an excellent storyteller.

I’m not sure if this documentary will be shown again, but if it is, I recommend it.