Ron Howard Is A Proud Father To His Only Son & Grandfather To Granddaughter Who Inherited Everything But His Red Hair

Jan 16, 2024 by apost team

Born on March 1, 1954, in Duncan, Oklahoma, Ron Howard has led a multifaceted life, making significant contributions to the entertainment industry as an actor, director and producer. He started his career as a child actor but gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of Opie Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show" in the 1960s. Because of this, he gained significant attention and buzz, which laid the foundation for a successful career in Hollywood. 

Ron seamlessly transitioned from acting to directing and made his directorial debut with the film "Grand Theft Auto" in 1977. This marked the beginning of a prolific directing career that showcased his versatility and storytelling acumen. However, his directorial effort on "Apollo 13" in 1995 helped him amass critical acclaim and catapulted him into the big leagues of the film industry. 

It earned him several Academy Award nominations and solidified his reputation as a director capable of navigating both drama and suspense. He also had projects such as “A Beautiful Mind,” which earned him an Academy Award for Best Director. He has also directed “The Da Vinci Code” and “Cinderella Man.” 

Aside from being a successful industry giant, Ron also leads a great family, which he shares with his wife, Cheryl Alley, whom he married in 1975. The couple has four children: accomplished actress Bryce Dallas Howard, twins Paige and Jocelyn Carlyle Howard, and Reed Cross Howard. Not only is Ron a wonderful father, but he is already a proud grandfather to his grandchildren. 

Read on to learn more about Ron and his life as a director, as well as his beautiful family. 

Ron and Alley first met when Ron was just a junior at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California. 

“I met her, and there was never anybody else,” the director said to People Magazine of Alley. The Oscar-winning director confessed there was an "instant connection" between Alley and him. 

Throughout his incredible career, Ron admires how his wife of almost 50 years has been a constant support. 

“She’s unbelievably supportive and always has been,” he said. “Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.” Ron also revealed the one thing that has made their relationship work all these years, citing "communication" as a key factor.

“People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique. 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.” 

The husband and wife are each other’s pillars of support. Alley has been by his side through it all. The couple has raised their four children — Bryce, twins Paige and Jocelyn, and Reed — outside of Hollywood in Greenwich, Connecticut, and now have five grandkids.

​​According to Closer Weekly, Reed is the only son of Ron and Alley. He has dabbled in acting, and like some of his older siblings, he appeared on his dad’s show "Arrested Development" back in 2018. Reed has expressed a liking for professional golfing and is also a YouTuber. He often shows off his teeing skills on his social media accounts. 

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Ron is a doting parent to his children. In an interview with Parade, he had this to say: 

"I felt pressure about being a father, more pressure than I would have ever imagined — trying to do it right, to be what I should be to my kids.

But despite everything, Ron said that he wouldn’t “trade” it for anything. 

"I think I've probably learned more and grown more because I'm a father than for any other reason," he expressed.

Juggling his family and filmmaking was a huge undertaking for Ron, as he also told the publication that when they only had Bryce back then, “it was very manageable.”

“But then we found out that Cheryl was going to have twins and she was in a bed for three or four months and she was going crazy. For the first time in my life, I had to take a lot of extra responsibility at home,” Ron added. "And I suddenly realized that I could handle it. I think that was a watershed time in my life both as a parent and as a person.” 

Bryce also revealed in an interview with ABC that her father had influenced her daughter Beatrice creatively at some point. Ron’s creativity wasn’t the only thing that he passed down to his grandchildren. 

Ron’s only son, Reed, is the spitting image of the famed director, who celebrated his son’s wedding in 2015. He also gave a touching tribute to his son, who had his first daughter, Aspen Leigh, when he celebrated his first Father’s Day in 2019. 

In 2020, Reed’s wife, Ashley, penned a heartfelt post for her husband, whom she likened to having “won the lottery.”

Although her father did not pursue a career in acting or filmmaking, Aspen seems to be showing some promise for a career as an actress in the future just from her cute little antics that we see online.

She has appeared on her famous grandfather’s Instagram numerous times, like this one slow-motion video of her playing basketball back in October 2020 and another occasion of her enjoying a bubble bath. 

“This family member loves a good bubble bath doesn’t she?” Ron wrote in the caption. 

The fact that Aspen resembles her grandfather Ron so much is not all that surprising once you realize how much her father Reed has taken after his dad in the first place. Both appear to share pretty much all the same facial features, and they also have naturally fair hair. 

Many fans talked about how much they looked alike. One commenter even went as far as to compare them to Rance Howard, Ron’s late father.

For Halloween in 2020, the pro golfer took to Instagram to share a couple of snaps of him and his family as well as show off Aspen’s adorable Hawaiian-inspired costume. One of the pictures is of him and his baby girl, and the resemblance between the two is simply undeniable. The father and daughter have very clearly inherited their pensive eyes and sweet smile from Ron.

However, one striking difference that one can spot is the very different hair color of Aspen, which turned out to be blonde. In a 2021 video that Reed posted on Instagram, it can be clearly seen that Reed, who inherited his red hair from his father, has a different hair color compared to his daughter, Aspen, who has beautiful blonde hair, which she obviously inherited from her mother, Ashley. 

Are you a fan of Ron Howard? What can you say about Reed and Aspen? Isn’t she the cutest? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends and other loved ones out there!