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Biography & Autobiography. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML: AN AUDIOFILES BEST AUDIOBOOK OF 2021 WINNER OF AN AUDIOFILES EARPHONES AWARD: "This audiobook is simply a delight...a must-listen." "This extraordinary book is not only a chronicle of Ron's and Clint's early careers and their wild adventures, but also a primer on so many topicsâ??how an actor prepares, how to survive as a kid working in Hollywood, and how to be the best parents in the world! The Boys will surprise every reader with its humanity." â?? Tom Hanks "I have read dozens of Hollywood memoirs. But The Boys stands alone. A delightful, warm and fascinating story of a good life in show business." â?? Malcolm Gladwell Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Benâ??these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the '60s and '70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors. "What was it like to grow up on TV?" Ron Howard has been asked this question throughout his adult life. in The Boys, he and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods in detail for the first time. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunityâ??but also invited stress and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs as Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence, with some tough consequences and lessons. With the perspective of time and successâ??Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actorâ??the Howard brothers delve deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but. Their Midwestern parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their own showbiz dreams. But it was their young sons who found steady employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego and ambition to become Ron and Clint's teacher, sage, and moral compass. Jean became their loving protectorâ??sometimes over-protectorâ??from the snares and traps of Hollywood. By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing, THE BOYS is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers' closely held lives. It's the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived "child-actor syndrome" to be… (more)
User reviews
Well, they were wrong. Ron Howard really was the All-American boy he appeared to be on film. And strangely enough, before I read The Boys, the new biography/memoir by Ron and Clint Howard, I ran across quite a few negative comments saying that The Boys makes for pretty boring reading. Why? Because all the love in his family, their work ethic, and their success in the business became too plain vanilla to hold a readerâs attention for a whole book. They were hoping for some dirt on the Howard family, and they were obviously disappointed not to find much of it there. (I do have to believe that some of the bookâs harshest critics quit reading before Clint Howard opened up about his alcohol and drug abuse problems, however.)
The Boys is co-written by the Howard brothers, although Ron, as you would expect, gets the bulk of the page count. That doesnât, however, mean that Clint does not contribute to the flow of their memoir. In fact, the contrasting views of the two authors combine to tell a family story that neither of them could have come close to telling as accurately or as movingly on their own.
And itâs pretty much all there. Both men cover their individual careers in some detail, offering stories and insights that only they are privy to. Ron hits all the highlights, especially his Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, American Graffiti, and Music Man highlights. He also explains where, and when, his great desire to become a movie director originated, and how lucky he considers himself to be that he was able, ultimately, to live his true dream. Clint Howardâs work will likely surprise some readers because he has accumulated some 200 movie and television credits since he began acting as a toddler, including, of course, the Gentle Ben television series. Clint whole heartedly embraces his status as a character actor, and it has translated into a career that has served him well for over fifty years now.
Personally, what I find most compelling about The Boys is learning about the personal sacrifices that the Howard parents made so that their boys could find and earn their places in life. Those sacrifices were numerous, and as it turns out, they were well worth it.
Bottom Line: The Boys will be of particular interest to fans of Ron Howardâs acting and movie directing talents but, really, the best thing about the book is the way the boys credit their parents for their success. That Jean and Rance Howard were able to give their sons a relatively normal upbringing while working in an industry that so often destroys families is remarkable. The critics are right: with a couple of exceptions, this is a feel-good bookâŚjust what I needed as we close out a year like the one 2021 turned out to be.
As I read and listened to this book it struck me that the Howard brothers have been a presence in my life since I was a small child. This is very rare as we all know, but although they have popped in and out of my awareness,
Have their lives been as charmed as they appear to be?
Other than what most other people know- I really didnât know anything about the brotherâs parents, what kind of upbringing they had, their personal relationships- friendships or romances, etc. But, even if I did have more than the surface information, I would still want to read this book.
I'd just like hearing the story come straight from Ron and Clint. It is their life, and they can give people insights they could never ascertain any other way. Telling oneâs story, with both personal and career elements is such a personal endeavor, as one decides what to share, what readers would be interested in knowing, and still be honest, and forthright.
I would say that the Howard brothers did a great, and very thorough job. Maybe it is just me, but I never would have guessed that Ron and Clint were brothers, if didnât already know. I see very little physical resemblance, and that seems to be true in temperament as well. Clintâs perspective and personality, though ambitious, didnât seem to have the same drive as Ron. He isnât the boy scout that his older brother is, and his career has not followed the same path. I knew very little about Clint from a personal standpoint and found his portions of the story, though not as generous as Ronâs, to be more comical at times, but the darker tones of his life are quite evident.
Although the book was a bit too long, and maybe not all the stories told are as interesting or impactful to the reader as they were for Ron or Clint, for most part the book was very interesting and the two brothers were both very articulate, and the information they included in the book gave readers an up close and personal view of what it is like to be a child star, to try and live a ânormalâ life, how they each coped with fame, and how some doors opened and some closed at just the right time and place.
Although both brothers have been successful, Ronâs goals were a bit more focused, and his personality is more positive, looking at the things through a rosier lens than Clint. Clint chose to be an actor, not a behind the scenes guy, and his experiences werenât always as rosy as Ronâs- far from it, in fact.
In the end, though, I reflected back in the book, after learning who had prodded Ron and Clint to consider writing it, and how it came to fruition, I thought that of all the memoirs, especially when dealing with Hollywood actors and players, it is true, that the child star, especially that of a television series star, rarely ever makes it through to this point in their lives where they can write a memoir about their long, long, long careers in the entertainment industry.
Despite some dark days for Clint, the brothers have weathered the stereotypes, and pitfalls, and have enjoyed careers that have spanned decades, and that is quite an accomplishment all on its own.
The book, maybe because it comes from two seasoned performers, has a slick, polished presentation, but it has a very honest quality about it, and felt sincere.
There is a great deal of material to cover, with two people contributing to the memoir, but the book is well organized and overall, I appreciated the approach, and the obvious amount of work the guys put into the book, and I enjoyed taking this journey with them. I loved that the memoir was like an ode to the âBoysâ parents, and it is obvious, that though theyâve lived unconventional lives in many ways, they have also lived traditional ones, where family relationships are at the center of their lives, first and foremost.
I really loved the way the book ended, as the brothers ribbed one another good- naturedly with jokes the readers will now fully understand.
4 stars
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The book covers the years when their parents met and fell in love, through The Boys' acting and growing up in Hollywood, to the beginning of Ron's directing career. The structure of the book works really well, with alternating views of the authors, including asides/interruptions by the other, giving the feeling of sitting with the two of them as they tell their story. What resonated most for me is that other than being in show biz, the Howard family was normal and relatable. The book is a delight.
This was an absolutely fascinating book. I knew little about the Howard family before reading this book and was captivated by their family dynamic. The writing style was dynamic, oftentimes funny, and brutally honest. Overall, highly recommended!
Warm, honest and nostalgic. A great memoir!
I was not as much a fan of Clint's work but I knew who he was and did not realize he had a really bad alcohol and drug addiction before he was able to get it under control. The family they grew up in
The Boys is an engaging and easy read with plenty of guest star cameos and a little bit of insider dirt. This is sort of a nostalgia wallow for me since I grew up watching Ron Howard on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, and large chunks of the book are given over to anecdotes from the sets of those two shows. As presented, Ron is the rare child actor who transitioned relatively smoothly to adult roles and a successful directing career. More than a bit of a square, he had a pretty golden life and has a fairly positive attitude about everything now. To add a little spice and darkness, his brother Clint contributes the occasional chapter and interjection that present his more cynical take on things, as his child acting career petered out and he found himself becoming a bit of a cult figure due to his adult career as a character actor. Clint also talks about his problems with substance abuse.
The brothers let the book serve mostly as a love letter to their parents, who started and guided their childhood careers while their father scrabbled to keep his own acting career alive and their mother struggled with mental and physical health issues. They had their ups and downs but launched an entertainment dynasty while keeping everyone fairly humble.
The book pretty much ends with Ron directing his first movie, making me feel like there may be a second volume down the road covering the rest of his filmmaking career. I'd certainly pick it up if it came to be.
In fact, I would have enjoyed hearing more from Clint, who struggled far more. One gets the sense that he didn't want to rain on Ron's sunny parade by talking about his struggles â and the difficult, dark-side-of-Hollywood things he saw and Ron didn't â by saying as much as he could have. He definitely plays second fiddle in this book, and that seems like a shame.
Aside from the Howards' personalities, and the loving and detailed portrait of their shared, almost unbelievably supportive parents, I enjoyed the trips behind the stages of The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, and learning about Ron's far from straightforward journey from acting to directing with the help of Roger Corman, who seems to have been a mentor to dozens of great directors.