Ron Howard’s Bumpy Ride Making The Shootist with John Wayne

What’s This Story About?

Imagine you’re a young actor on a movie set with a giant movie star and a tough director who don’t like each other. That’s what happened to Ron Howard! He told this tale on a podcast called Talking Pictures with Ben Mankiewicz.

Key Points

• Ron Howard worked with John Wayne on the 1976 movie The Shootist. The old-school star (Wayne) and the director (Don Siegel) fought a lot.
• Ron said: “I also learned a lot in a rather uncomfortable way because Wayne and Siegel were feuding. They did not get along.”
• John Wayne died in 1979, three years after the movie came out. He was 72 and passed from cancer problems.

Who Was Involved?

• Ron Howard: A kid star from The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days. He was 22 and also studying to be a director at USC Cinema School.
• John Wayne (nicknamed “The Duke”): A famous Western movie actor. This was his last film.
• Don Siegel: The director. He also made Dirty Harry and later Escape from Alcatraz.
• Other actors in the film: Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Richard Boone, John Carradine, and Scatman Crothers.

What Happened on Set?

Ron played a character named Gillom Rogers next to Wayne’s character J.B. Books. The movie is celebrating its 50th birthday this month!

Ron said the film “holds up well” and builds beautifully. He called Siegel a “very strong director” and learned tons from him.

But here’s the tricky part:

• Wayne and Siegel were feuding (fighting/arguing).
• Ron got along fine with both separately.
• He learned directing stuff from Siegel by asking lots of questions.
• Wayne liked Ron’s “professionalism” (meaning he did his job well).
• Ron was brave enough to say, “Hey, do you want to run lines?” (practice talking) because almost nobody talked to Wayne between scenes. Wayne said yes, and they practiced their big dialogue scenes together.

Important Point: Wayne told Ron he was unhappy with how Siegel was shooting the movie. Siegel told Ron: if you’re the director and it’s you vs. the star, you’re fired—they can’t reshoot. Siegel said he liked the script and would “ride it out.” Ron felt Siegel didn’t bridge the gaps (fix the relationship), and it got intense.

What Ron Learned About Handling Fights

Ron used this experience to learn how to run his own movie sets later (he even won a Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind).

His advice steps:

1. When people disagree, talk about it right away.
2. You don’t have to fight—just talk it through to achieve something together.
3. Don’t let small annoying feelings grow into big emotional messes.
4. If someone is insecure (nervous), shine light on it; most people will admit it.

He said on The Shootist, things were “allowed to fester” (sit and rot) too long.

How It Ended

Even with the fights, Siegel made “a really good film” and Ron learned a lot. But some days, Siegel and Wayne were really at loggerheads (butting heads hard).

Wayne died three years later from cancer issues at age 72.

Summary

Ron Howard was a young actor in John Wayne’s final movie, The Shootist (1976). The director Don Siegel and Wayne fought the whole time. Ron stayed friends with both, learned directing from Siegel, and got acting tips from Wayne. The fighting taught Ron to solve problems quickly on set. The movie turned out great, and Wayne passed away in 1979.

FAQ

Q: What is The Shootist?
A: It’s a 1976 Western movie and John Wayne’s last film, where Ron Howard played his young co-star.

Q: Why didn’t John Wayne and Don Siegel get along?
A: They had creative disagreements about how the movie was being made, and the tension was left to build instead of being talked out.

Q: How did Ron Howard stay okay with both of them?
A: He was polite, professional, asked Siegel directing questions, and offered to practice lines with Wayne when others wouldn’t.

Q: What did Ron learn for his own directing career?
A: He learned to face disagreements immediately and calmly so small issues don’t become big emotional problems.