Ron Howard reveals his father's secret role in making 'The Andy Griffith Show' legendary

Ron Howard has revealed how his father played a key role in shaping The Andy Griffith Show into a television classic.

For the unversed, The Andy Griffith Show was set in a small town based on Mount Airy, North Carolina, and people still remember it today but the show may not have been the same without a suggestion from Rance Howard.

In a talk with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri, the 71-year-old American filmmaker and actor reflected on his long career that started when he was a child and his character of Opie Taylor, Andy Griffith’s son, in The Andy Griffith Show.

Howard told the outlet that his father, who was also an actor, had a big influence on how his character was created.

He said, "When we were doing a Return to Mayberry TV movie or reunion special or something, Andy told me that my dad had come to him very early on in the show and said, 'You’re writing Opie the way most sitcom kids are written. They’re wiseasses and smarter than the dad.' And he said, 'Ronnie can do that, but what if Opie actually respected his dad?’”

"Now, I don't know if Dad was just worried about me getting into bad habits, or I think he was, in his own very simple way, actually teaching me Actors Studio stuff. It was the simplest version of Method acting, finding the truth in moments. I think maybe he felt like there was a lot of artifice in these punch-line-driven deliveries that would be required,” the Happy Days star noted.

Ebiri commented that Andy Griffith may not have become a father figure for so many TV viewers without that change, to which Howard replied, "I think a lot doesn’t happen if he doesn’t make that suggestion," adding that Rance "tried not to screw things up" and "what Andy wanted was a truthfulness. But it still required perfect timing and exactly the right tone."

"Andy was always annoyed that the media didn't really embrace the show. In season five, I remember him saying, 'How long do we have to be in the top ten for them to understand why this show works?' And then he started reading the Variety review out loud, and it wasn't very flattering,” Ron Howard quipped.