Ron Howard Calls His Wife His ‘Good Luck Charm’ – You Won’t Believe Their 49-Year Marriage Secret!

Ron Howard has been a famous name for almost as long as he has been alive—70 years! He has had a successful career in film and TV that started when he was just a toddler.

Besides his impressive career, Ron Howard has also had a long-lasting marriage. He has been married to his wife Cheryl for nearly 50 years.

Keep reading to learn more about Ron Howard’s amazing career and his long marriage!

Ron Howard was born on March 1, 1954, in Duncan, Oklahoma. From a very young age, it was clear he was destined for Hollywood greatness. At just 18 months old, he appeared in his first film, Frontier Woman. When he was two years old, he made his stage debut in the play The Seven Year Itch.

Soon after, the freckle-faced redhead began his celebrity career with a role on The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 to 1968.

In this show, little Ron Howard played Opie, the son of Andy Griffith’s character. During this time, Ron had the full support of his parents, who both worked in the entertainment industry.

Ron Howard remembers a conversation he had with his parents years ago. They said, “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.” They explained that he didn’t have to take other roles, but if he started this one, he had to keep doing it.

Ron Howard understood what his parents were trying to tell him. He says, “I think it was pretty clear at that point that I was enjoying it, and I was good at it.”

And he really was great at it! He was about to reach an even higher level of fame.

While he was starring in The Andy Griffith Show, Ron also appeared in the 1962 musical film The Music Man, which was a huge hit.

With his natural talent, Ron went on to star in the 1973 film American Graffiti. This movie also featured stars like Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, and Cindy Williams, who he would work with again in the future.

In 1974, Ron Howard was cast as Richie Cunningham in a new TV series created by Garry Marshall called Happy Days. The show became a big hit and was on TV from 1974 to 1984, reaching homes around the world.

Happy Days also led to some popular spin-offs, including Laverne & Shirley, which starred Cindy Williams and Garry Marshall’s sister Penny Marshall, and Mork & Mindy, featuring Robin Williams as the lovable alien Mork.

Before he won a Golden Globe for his role as Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard met his high school sweetheart, Cheryl Alley, in 1970. They got married 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.”

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.

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.”

Dеbrа Wingеr, whоsе реrfоrmаnсеs in thе 1980’s аrе еtсhеd in оur hеаrts, is stunning аt 67

In a timeless tale of romance, Naval Officer Zack Mayo swept factory worker Paula into his arms and carried her from her workplace, leaving fans everywhere wishing they were the beautiful Debra Winger.

The legendary scene in the romantic drama an Officer and a Gentleman–where Richard Gere played Officer Zack Mayo, the handsome hero in navy whites–became the benchmark of love stories for daydreaming fans.

Actress Debra Winger poses backstage during the 54th Academy Awards at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles,California. (Photo by Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Acting alongside Hollywood’s hottest men, Debra Winger was the envy of many.

Today, Winger, 67, is as beautiful as ever. In the past few years, Winger has posted photos herself on Instagram, first with brown hair and now to a natural wavy gray.

Winger’s first starring role was in the 1976 film Slumber Party ‘57, which led to a part on the hit TV series Wonder Woman (1979), where she played Drusilla, the younger sister to Lynda Carter’s Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. Winger was asked to appear more often but concerned she’d be typecast by that role, she declined.

There were no regrets for that decision, the early ‘80s would be prosperous for the rising star.

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At the height of her young career, she received numerous nods from the Academy and Golden Globes for performances in three iconic movies of the 1980’s.

In 1980, she starred in Urban Cowboy, with John Travolta, who at the time was driving fans wild with his smooth dance moves in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1988); as Paula in an Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and in Terms of Endearment (1983), where she played Emma, a dying young woman with an over-bearing mother, Aurora, played by Shirley MacLaine.

Despite her huge success, Winger, carving hours from her acting schedule, took a mini Hollywood hiatus, and more than four decades after her rise to stardom, speculation of why she left is still circulating.

John Travolta and Debra Winger smile on set of the Paramount Pictures movie ‘Urban Cowboy” circa 1980. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Most of these rumours revolve around the feuds that Winger had with her co-stars.

Though fans couldn’t get enough of the handsome Gere, it’s been widely reported that Winger had enough of him on the set.

According to an excerpt published on ABC News from the book, “An Actor and a Gentleman,” by co-star, Louis Gossett Jr., who played Sgt. Emil Foley: “The onscreen chemistry between the two of them was terrific, but it was a different story once the camera was turned off. They couldn’t have stayed farther apart from each other.”

Gossett also claims that Winger didn’t think much of Gere’s acting and wrote that she once described Gere as “a brick wall.” And, the film’s director, Taylor Hackford, whom she also did not likе, she referred to as “animal.”

It wasn’t only people on that film that ruffled her feathers.

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Winger, a free spirit in real life and in her role as Emma, also clashed with the prolific MacLaine, a glamourous, eccentric and seasoned veteran.

Their first meeting set the stage for their relationship.

“To see how my character would feel I was wearing all my leftover movie-star fur coats,” MacLaine said in an interview with People. “There was Debra dressed in combat boots and a miniskirt…I thought, ‘Oh my goodness.’”

People writes, “Indeed, the set became the source of Hollywood’s most relished rumors. Winger wanted top billing. One reportedly slugged the other.”

And then, the women were pitted against each other in the Oscars when they were both nominated for best actress.

MacLaine, taking the trophy home, said in her acceptance speech, “I deserve this!”

Rumors aside, Winger insists she “pushed the pause button” on Hollywood for personal reasons and not professional.

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“The parts that were coming, I wasn’t interested in. I’d already done that or I’d already felt that. I needed to be challenged. My life challenged me more than the parts, so I dove into it fully,” Winger told People.

After starring in the 1995 romcom Forget Paris with Billy Crystal, Winger took a six-year break.

In that time, she moved to New York City and shifted her focus to actor Arliss Howard, whom she married in 1996. The pair have a son, Gideon Babe, who was born in 1997, and she is stepmother to Sam, Howard’s son from a previous marriage. She also has another biological child, Noah Hutton, whom she mothered while married to her first husband, Timothy Hutton (1986 to 1990).

She reappeared in the 2001 film Big Bad Love, that was directed and produced by her husband, who also co-starred alongside Winger and Rosanna Arquette, who’s next project was 2002 film Searching for Debra Winger. As director of the documentary, Arquette attempts to answer why Winger temporarily аbаndоned her career at peak performance.

Winger gained some momentum with roles in Rachel Getting Married (2008) with Anne Hathaway, the 2017 romcom The Lovers, and the crime-comedy, Kajillionaire (2020).

In 2021, she was in With/In, Volume two of the anthological drama film, in the segment Her Own, which is written and directed by her husband, who also co-stars.

“I don’t know what Hollywood is. I’m living under the freaking sign now, and I just stare at it and laugh. Los Angeles is a place, but the idea of Hollywood doesn’t really exist for me,” Winger said, adding, “…although there must be some in-crowds that I just don’t know about.”

Debra Winger and Gideon Babe Ruth Howard attend Netflix’s The Pale Blue Eye New York Tastemaker Screening at The Metrograph on November 29, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for Netflix)

We can’t imagine a Hollywood without Debra Winger and we hope she soon gets to take home an Academy Award ! What are your favorite Winger movies?

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