Q 13

PLAYBOY: Who can still call you Ronnie?

Ron Howard: My wife. Henry Winkler, sometimes. Brian Grazer can get away with it some of the time. Nobody has to call me Mr. Howard, though. I cringe at that.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: How long have you had your mustache and how long did it take to grow?

Ron Howard: It's about three and a half years old. There was at least a year of penciling it in when I went on talk shows. I grew it to look older. I keep wanting to shave it off, but my wife says not to. Maybe one day I'll need to look younger and it will go.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: Was it tough for you to be taken seriously as a director in Hollywood because of your history?

Ron Howard: Tough. Everyone took a fairly patronizing attitude with me, a very safe one, in retrospect. They said that if I wanted to be a director, they were sure that one day I could. "You can do it, Ronnie. Why not? Maybe when you're 30, 35." But no one was really being encouraging. It bothered me, because my goal had been to direct a feature when I was still in my teens. My looking so young was also a drawback at the time, but finally Roger Corman gave me my first break and people began coming around.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: What does Roger Corman--who has given many of today's well-known actors and directors their first chance--know that he could bottle and sell?

Ron Howard: He knows that above all, concept is the important thing. High concept. He knows that coming-attraction trailers are crucial. He figures that if he has a good trailer and a good concept, he doesn't have to spend very much money or even have particularly experienced people doing the job. But if they can just execute the material to a quasi-acceptable degree, he can get a good trailer out of the material and get people to show up at a picture that didn't really cost anything. That doesn't apply to most other producers, who want people to see the film more than once. Roger doesn't care about that.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: Defend Robby Benson.

Ron Howard: Oh, no! Well--Robby is a good, solid, thoughtful actor. But he's at an awkward time right now. A few years ago, people thought he was great because he was this kid and he was funny. His problem now is that you know he's not a kid, but he still doesn't look like a man. His voice still seems a little funny, even though he's maybe 27, 28. He's just got to get older. Then he has a strong career ahead.

That also happened to me, but I bailed out and became a director. I'd made the transition from kid to juvenile to young adult. But I wasn't sure I could make it to adult, even though I had done a few TV movies and had played adults. I think that if I had stayed with Happy Days and had taken all that money I was offered, I would be very frustrated right now.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: What do you know about Henry Winkler that no one has ever asked you and you've been dying to tell?

Ron Howard: People think of him as so cool because of the Fonz, the way he handles himself on talk shows, in public. He's always got an answer. He's bright. But no one ever asked what he was like when he got hurt. Henry really wants to be liked all the time by everyone. It makes him a wonderful guy on one hand. But he sort of can't accept it if someone doesn't return the affection. I've seen him almost break down in tears when he felt he was being mistreated--especially when he was learning how to deal with Fonzie mania. His vulnerability is an endearing quality, but no one ever thinks of him as vulnerable.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: What's Richie Cunningham's biggest secret?

Ron Howard: That he actually had sex with Shirley after that Laverne & Shirley spin-off where Fonzie gets Richie a date with a loose woman. It didn't work out that night, but I just know that Richie wandered over there one night and scored--because he was such a nice guy.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: Which parent told you about sex?

Ron Howard: My dad. It was memorable. I was five years old and we were living in a small apartment in Burbank. My parents said they were getting ready to have a baby. I asked how that worked. I remember my dad sort of looking down at me and rubbing his eyes with his hands and sighing and saying, "All right, come on in here." He started drawing these pictures. First a woman--he couldn't draw very well, but he gave her pubic hair and a couple of breasts. Then a man, with a penis. Then an erection. And he gave me the whole thing, saying, "Well, the penis goes in here, into the woman, and then the man plants a seed." It was great. When I got to the eighth grade, which is when they explain all that stuff in school, I remember thinking how cool my dad had been about all that stuff. He was incredibly open about it. [Long pause and growing smile] And I can anticipate your next question. Yes, I did. Oh, my God! It's absolutely true. The first time I had sex, I thought of the pictures!