From 1960s TV to directing Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford – why Dan Brown told brothers Ron and Clint Howard to write their Hollywood memoir

“Clint, you’re sideways.”

“Well, I either have to be sideways or upside-down. What’s better?”

“Sideways,” says Ron Howard, director of about 30 features and documentaries. Brother Clint Howard, five years his junior and proud owner of more than 250 acting credits, nods with something like satisfaction. His image on the screen remains sideways, and his older sibling allows the slightest of smiling head shakes – a silent “That’s my brother.”

In tank top and wildish white hair, Clint looks in character for a movie located deep in the woods of North Carolina, but he’s in the American state for an Andy Griffith Show fan event (Ron, of course, played young Opie on that ’60s hit, while Clint had a beloved recurring role as Leon, the kid cowboy armed with a sandwich).

During a Zoom interview, Ron talks more than Clint, is more functionally illuminated and moves less. Gravity-defying Clint is side-lit by a window, somewhat deferential to big brother but more animated and quick to guffaw.

The brothers had runs of acting success as kids, Ron on Andy Griffith and others and Clint all over, including as the non-ursine star of Gentle Ben. After starring in Happy Days, grown-up Ron directed such films as Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, winning Oscars for directing and producing the latter. Clint became one of the more recognisable character faces in movies and on TV shows such as Star Trek and Mod Squad.