They say every man will become his father, and for Opie, it was no different.
Fewer things are more romantic to women than an Andy Griffith impression. Flirtations will come and go, but there’s nothing more attractive than a Mayberry man.
Even though Ron Howard was a teenager and had been off the set of The Andy Griffith Show for years by the time he went on his first date with Cheryl, the woman who would eventually become his wife, do you think he’d let the night end without an Andy Griffith impression? Heck no!
It should also be noted that as far as first dates go, this one was pretty perfect. In his book, The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family, Howard recalled thinking to himself, “Wow, my ideal actually exists on this planet.” It was a date that consisted of a movie and pizza, an ideal pastime for two teenagers, especially if one of them was going to grow up to become a critically acclaimed director. In fact, Howard actually talked to Cheryl about a screenplay he was working on at the time in an effort to impress her. It’s unclear if he was successful, but it seemed that Cheryl was just as smitten with Ron as he was with her by the time the date was over.
The two met during their time at school together, and while Ron frequently missed classes due to his shooting schedule, he seemed to know instantly that Cheryl was the one for him. However, it still took him quite a bit of time to muster up the nerve to ask her on a date, and he only managed to do so under the guise of asking her for homework help.
Still, it was pretty clear from the night of their first date that those two crazy kids were destined for each other, and Howard knew it. Filled with enthusiasm, Howard knew no way to express his joy but to scream it to the high heavens.
He wrote, “Andy Griffith had a tendency, when he was in a good mood, to speak in loud, declarative sentences: ‘Well, that was out–standing!’ I remembered this and literally did an Andy imitation. I walked into the house, leaving the front door open behind me. My folks were sitting in the living room. They looked up at me expectantly.”
“‘Now that’s a date!’ I said. I reached behind me and swung the door shut with a loud slam. Then I bounded upstairs to my bedroom without saying another word.”
