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Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero^[1][2] of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society. His image and personality are largely inspired by the "Man with No Name" portrayed by Clint Eastwood in several of Sergio Leone's westerns, though his quest and many of his personal, internal conflicts are drawn from Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. His surname echoes Shane, the archetypal Western loner hero.

Fictional biography[link]

Background[link]

Roland becomes a gunslinger at the unheard-of age of 14 after being manipulated into taking the "trial of manhood" by Marten Broadcloak, his father's adviser and an incarnation of Randall Flagg. Marten has an affair with Roland's mother and makes sure Roland finds out about it, prompting Roland to request his trial in order to gain his guns and exact revenge on Marten. In the trial, Roland must defeat his teacher, Cort, using a weapon of his choosing. He chooses a hawk named David and defeats Cort. Roland sacrifices David to win the fight, setting the tone for Roland's future choices in life. Despite Roland's victory, Cort and Roland's father convince Roland to bide his time before seeking retribution.

Not long after, Roland's father sends him on a mission to the town of Hambry in the Outer Barony of Mejis with his friends Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood, who will form the basis of his first ka-tet. While there, he comes into the possession of a pink crystal ball, one of 13 magical artifacts referred to as "Maerlyn's Rainbow." It was while looking into this artifact that Roland first discovered his destiny to quest for the Dark Tower.

Roland is a 30th-generation descendant of his world's version of King Arthur, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. In Wizard and Glass, during a flashback to Roland's time in the Barony of Mejis, a letter from his father identifies Steven Deschain as a 29th-generation descendant of Arthur Eld from a side lineage (that is to say, from one of Arthur's many "gillies," or concubines). Even his guns were originally made of the melted-down metal from the legendary Excalibur sword. It is hinted that one must possess this sword, or another sign of the Eld (the line of Arthur Eld) in order to open the door at the foot of the Tower. According to a supplemental prose story by Robin Furth included in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (issues #7 & #2, respectively), Roland's ancestry traces back to Arthur Eld and Emmanuelle Deschain, the daughter of his seneschal, Kay Deschain, while the Crimson King's ancestry traces back to an affair between Arthur and the Crimson Queen.

Quest for the Dark Tower[link]

Roland is alone at the beginning of the series, following the way of ka, a variant of destiny that is similar in concept to other karmic ideologies. The term ka-tet is used for a group of people who are deeply bonded to one another through ka. The seven-book series is about Roland's acquisition of a new ka-tet and the completion of his quest. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger and is possessed (or, as he describes it himself, "addicted") by a quest to reach The Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds rotate. (Eddie Dean, an ex-heroin addict and member of Roland's ka-tet, calls Roland a "Tower junkie.") The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King, Lord of Discordia, a Satanic figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.

In the first novel, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Roland's original desire is simply to climb to the Dark Tower's top to question whatever god dwells there, but ka has greater plans for him. The ka-tet he acquires during the series bears many resemblances to his childhood ka-tet, who were all killed trying to help Roland on his quest. How he treats his new ka-tet when faced with decisions between their lives and his quest is a key component of the novels. Ultimately, his ka-tet represents a chance for redemption and a means by which he can ultimately change his own ka.

At the end of the seventh novel, it is revealed that he is trapped in a repetitive reincarnation, his "damnation" for his crimes and killings (similar to Stephen King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French", in which he expresses that his idea of hell is repetition.) However, it is also suggested that this eternal repetition is not quite eternal; after his rebirth at the end of the novel, it is revealed that in this particular reiteration of his journey, he possesses the Horn of Eld which in his previous pilgrimages he had lost in the final stand at Jericho Hill, the one major element which was discrepant from his approach to the tower and Childe Roland's approach in Robert Browning's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came ("Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set...") In this way, it is suggested that Roland might yet find salvation from his personal hell.

Relations with other characters[link]

Roland's chief enemy is Randall Flagg, a villain who appears in many of King's works. Flagg's character appears in many different incarnations throughout the series. He is a minion of the Crimson King himself, though he is ultimately hoping to overthrow him. He is often at the heart of most conflicts with Roland throughout the Gunslinger's lifetime.

His relationships with his ka-tet change greatly over the course of the story. When he first 'draws' Eddie from the human world, Roland dislikes him for being a drug addict and constantly complaining about his plight. After Eddie beats his addiction, however, he starts to care for him more and more and eventually Roland regards him as something between a son and a brother. His relationship with Susannah follows the same pattern: though he is initially wary of her second personality, Detta, after her personalities 'merge' into Susannah he gets to know her better and grows to care deeply for her. His relationship with Jake is perhaps the deepest, initially seeing the boy as a trustworthy and strong companion, but eventually regarding him as his true son. Roland, already scarred by the deaths of all his childhood friends — who all died helping him to get closer to the tower — he is shown to be emotionally devastated by Eddie's and especially Jake's death, weeping openly (something Eddie mentioned before did not happen often, if at all).

Roland cries out all their names — both his first and second Ka-Tet's — when he reaches the door of the Dark Tower, along with other characters whom he cared for in some way or another: Susan Delgado, Roland's first (and only true) love, who was killed while he was in Mejis; Father Callahan, who was also a member of Roland's second Ka-Tet, albeit for a much shorter time; Hax the cook, whom Roland betrayed to the gunslingers because he was a traitor, something that deeply affected Roland; his teachers Cort and Vannay; his parents' names; the name of David the Hawk, whom Roland used in the trial for his revolvers; and the name of Aunt Talitha of River Crossing, whose cross he lays at the base of the tower. He also cries the names of Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw, two 'Breakers' who helped him and his friends greatly; the name of Sheemie Ruiz, one of Roland's longest-surviving friends; and that of Oy, the billy-bumbler, a ka-tet member who died saving Roland's life from Mordred Deschain.

Characteristics[link]

Emotionally, Roland at times appears detached or unsympathetic, often reacting uncaring or angry at signs of cowardice or self-pity, yet he possess a strong sense of heroism, often attempting to help those in need. He is shown to be mentally scarred from the deaths of all his friends and family, often thinking about their words and actions, and he is said (on more than one occasion by himself) to greatly lack imagination. He also describes himself as "not very good in thinking around corners", meaning he has a very practical character, never really seeking other meanings or intentions behind what he sees, although he is very perceptive and intelligent. Cuthbert, Roland's best friend in his childhood, once said the gears in Roland's head turn slow, but grind extremely well. Roland is not very patient, especially when he is under stress, and often makes a rotating gesture with his hand, which means 'go on, hurry, move on' in conversations. Similarly, he prefers not to over-plan his actions, trusting greatly in his instinct and skill at improvising according to the situation. He is also shown not to have a great sense of humor: though he knows a lot of riddles he rarely jokes and is visibly irritated at times when Eddie (and in the past, Cuthbert) joke around. Roland is not one for small talk.

In the last novel, it is implied that the gunslinger's mostly cold, ruthless nature is alleviated slightly every time he reaches the Dark Tower and begins his journey again—Whilst his memories are erased, his personality changes in reflection of the experiences of each quest. This is symbolised by his re-acquisition of the Horn of Eld after the version covered in the Dark Tower series, implying that he has learned some of the true values of family and love; he has clearly taken the horn from Cuthbert Allgood's body as he wished rather than leaving it there as he did before.

In The Waste Lands, Susannah compares Roland first to Marshal Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke, but later comes to believe he is more like John F. Kennedy. While she acknowledges that Roland lacks the president's imagination, both men have similar levels of charisma, cunning, and romance. King often notes Roland's strong sense of romance in his narrations, but describes this aspect of the gunslinger's character as being usually hidden by his more dominant sense of pragmatism.

Roland is also shown to care a great deal for his Ka-Tet, or "Companions in fate", and often puts himself at risk to save or assist them - though when confronted with the choice between saving one of them or getting one step closer to the Tower, he would almost certainly choose the Tower. Roland's silent desperation for the Tower is the driving rhythm of the series; it can be felt most powerfully in "The Gunslinger", wherein Roland's sole desire is the Tower and nothing below it.

Roland's revolvers (sometimes referred to as "the big guns" by other characters) are described as long and heavy, with blued steel (originally from his world's Excalibur) and sandalwood grips. These guns are a major sigil, as they are recognized throughout Mid-World and are used as an identifier of Roland. During the search for more ammunition in New York City in The Drawing of the Three, the guns are revealed to be chambered close enough to .45 or the .45 Long Colt to use manufactured ammo. In The Gunslinger Roland can reload both revolvers at the same time with blinding speed using a "finger trick." He lost this ability when he lost two of his fingers at the start of The Drawing of the Three. Even after being crippled he possesses almost superhuman accuracy and he can draw his guns faster than any other character. Roland is noted as being able to shoot equally well with both hands.

Ka Sigil

In addition to being a master gunslinger, Roland is an experienced traveler, able to hunt, make his own clothes from the skins of animals, and navigate via the stars. Roland can speak five languages, including the High Speech and the Low Speech. He also possess a great deal of knowledge about ka the nature of the world. Roland is also a skilled leader, diplomat, and teacher.

King physically compares Roland to a pair of living people: Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name in the Sergio Leone movies and, to a greater extent, Stephen King himself. There is a moment in the earlier books where Roland's apprentice, Jake, sees Clint Eastwood on a movie poster and remarks how similar his eyes are to the gunslinger's. There is a point during the second book at which Roland psychically bonds himself with a murderer named Jack Mort; the combination of the two personages is said to resemble the mannerisms of Arnold Schwarzenegger as he appeared in The Terminator. Eddie Dean sees Stephen King as a young man and recognizes that he and Roland share many of the same physical features, saying that Roland could be King's father. Physical appearance aside, King has often remarked that Roland is one of the few characters with whom he could never really identify. In King's own words, Roland "scared" him.

At the start of the story, Roland is in his 40s, but is physically in his 50s at the end of The Gunslinger when his age is arrested as he slumbers for ten years. Most of his hair is gray or white, but some remains black. His facial features are described as rough (although Susannah once compared them to that of a tired poet), and he has light blue eyes, often referred to by characters and Stephen King as "bombardier's eyes." Roland lost his right big toe and his right index and middle fingers, which is problematic as he is right-handed in everything other than shooting. He is a strong and disciplined man, capable of working through injuries and illnesses that would have killed or incapacitated another man. Roland is also unusually tall; at 14, he stood taller than the 16-year-old Susan, and, as an adult, his height exceeds that of his father.

Adaptations[link]

It was announced in September 2010 that Universal had acquired the rights to produce three movies and a TV series based on the seven novels, as well as the short stories and graphic novels. Ron Howard will be directing the first movie as well as the first season of the TV series, with the script being written by Akiva Goldsman. Actor Javier Bardem will portray Roland.^[3][4] As of March 2012, Universal has dropped the Dark Tower project, but it has since been picked up by Time Warner, who will handle the film and television series through Warner Bros and HBO respectively. Bardem is still attached to the part of Roland Deschain.

In Frank Darabont's 2007 film adaptation of King's novella The Mist, the main character, David Drayton, can be seen painting a movie poster with Roland in the center, standing in front of a trans-dimensional Ironwood door, with a rose and the dark tower to each side.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• King, Stephen; Robin Furth (2006-12-05). Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance. Scribner. ISBN 0-7432-9734-2. 

The Roland of legend blowing his horn Oliphaunt to summon the emperor to his aid

Roland (Frankish: Hruodland) (died 14 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. Historically, Roland was military governor of the Breton March, with responsibility for defending the frontier of Francia against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which describes him as Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis praefectus ("Roland, prefect of the limits of Brittany") when narrating his death at the Battle of Roncesvalles, when the rearguard, under his command, and the baggage train of a Frankish army was beset by rebellious Basques.^[1]

Roland's death during retreat from the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in Iberia was transmogrified in later medieval and Renaissance literature. He became the chief paladin of the emperor Charlemagne and a central figure in the legendary material surrounding him, collectively known as the Matter of France. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French Chanson de Roland of the eleventh century. Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso, are even further detached from history than the earlier Chansons. Roland is poetically associated with his sword Durendal, his horse Veillantif, and his horn Oliphaunt.

History[link]

There exists only one historical mention of a Frankish Roland, found in the section of Vita Karoli Magni on the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, written by Charlemagne's courtier and biographer Einhard. The passage, which appears in Chapter 9, mentions that Hroudlandus (a Latinization of the Frankish Hroudland) was among those killed in the battle:

While he was vigorously pursuing the Saxon war, almost without a break, and after he had placed garrisons at selected points along the border, [Charles] marched into Spain [in 778] with as large a force as he could mount. His army passed through the Pyrenees and [Charles] received the surrender of all the towns and fortified places he encountered. He was returning [to Francia] with his army safe and intact, but high in the Pyrenees on that return trip he briefly experienced the Basques. That place is so thoroughly covered with thick forest that it is the perfect spot for an ambush. [Charles's] army was forced by the narrow terrain to proceed in a long line and [it was at that spot], high on the mountain, that the Basques set their ambush. [...] The Basques had the advantage in this skirmish because of the lightness of their weapons and the nature of the terrain, whereas the Franks were disadvantaged by the heaviness of their arms and the unevenness of the land. Eggihard, the overseer of the king's table, Anselm, the count of the palace, and Roland, the lord of the Breton March, along with many others died in that skirmish. But this deed could not be avenged at that time, because the enemy had so dispersed after the attack that there was no indication as to where they could be found.^[2]

Roland was evidently the first official appointed to direct Frankish policy in Breton affairs, as local Franks under the Merovingian dynasty had not previously pursued any specific relationship with the Bretons. Their frontier castle districts such as Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine) south of Mont Saint-Michel are now divided between Normandy and Brittany. The distinctive culture of this region preserves the present-day Gallo language and legends of local heroes such as Roland. Roland's successor in Brittania Nova was Guy of Nantes, who like Roland, was unable to exert Frankish expansion over Brittany and merely sustained a Breton presence in the Carolingian Empire.

According to legend, Roland was laid to rest in the basilica at Blaye, near Bordeaux, on the site of the citadel.

Legend[link]

First page of the Chanson de Roland in the Oxford Manuscript

Roland was a popular legendary figure in medieval Europe. Over the next several centuries, Roland became a "pop icon" in medieval minstrel culture. According to many legends, he was a nephew of Charlemagne (whether or not this was true is unknown), and turned his life into an epic tale of the noble Christian killed by Islamic forces, which forms part of the medieval Matter of France.

The tale of Roland's death is retold in the eleventh century poem The Song of Roland, where he is equipped with the Olifant (a signalling horn) and an unbreakable sword, enchanted by various Christian relics, named Durendal. The Song contains a highly romanticized and embellished account of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and Roland's death, setting the tone for later fantastical depiction of Charlemagne's court. It was adapted and modified throughout the Middle Ages, including an influential Latin prose version Historia Caroli Magni (also known as the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle), which also includes Roland's battle with a Saracen giant named Ferracutus who is only vulnerable at his navel (the story was later adapted in the anonymous Franco-Venetian epic L'Entrée d'Espagne (c.1320) and in the 14th century Italian epic La Spagna (attributed to the Florentine Sostegno di Zanobi and likely composed between 1350–1360).

Other texts give further legendary accounts of Roland's life. His friendship with Olivier and his engagement with Olivier's sister Aude are told in Girart de Vienne by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube. Roland's youth and the acquisition of his horse Veillantif and sword are described in Aspremont. Roland also appears in Quatre Fils Aymon where he is contrasted with Renaud de Montauban against whom he occasionally fights.

Statue of Roland, facade detail of the railway station, Metz, France

In Norway, the tales of Roland are part of the 13th century Karlamagnús saga.

In the Divine Comedy Dante sees Roland's spirit in the Heaven of Mars together with others who fought for the faith.

Roland appears in Entrée d'Espagne, a 14th century Franco-Venetian chanson de geste (in which he is transformed into a knight errant, similar to heroes from the Arthurian romances) and La Spagna, a 14th century Italian epic.

From the fifteenth century onwards, he appears as a central character in a sequence of Italian verse romances (as "Orlando"), including Morgante by Luigi Pulci, Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. (See below for his later history in Italian verse). The Orlandino of Pietro Aretino then waxed satirical about the "cult of personality" of Orlando the hero.

In Germany, Roland gradually became a symbol of the independence of the growing cities from the local nobility. In the late Middle Ages many cities sported the display of a defiant Roland statue on their marketplace. The Roland in Wedel was erected in 1450 as symbol of market justice, and the Roland statue in front of the town hall of Bremen (1404) is listed together with the town hall on the List of World Heritage Site from the UNESCO since 2004.

In Aragón there are several placenames related to Roldán (o Rolando): la Breca de Roldán (in Spanish la Brecha de Roldán, in French La Brèche de Roland) and Salto d´o Roldán (in Spanish El Salto de Roldán).

In Catalonia Roland (or Rotllà, as it is rendered in Catalan) became a legendary giant. Numerous places in Catalonia (both North and South) have a name related to Rotllà. In step with the trace left by the character in the whole Pyrenean area, Basque Errolan turns up in numerous legends and place-names associated with a mighty giant, usually a heathen, capable of launching huge stones. Interestingly, Basque word erraldoi ("giant") stems from Errolan.^{[citation needed]}

In the Faroe Islands Roland appears in the ballad of "Runtsivalstríðið" (Battle of Roncevaux)

More recently Roland's tale has been exploited by historians exploring the development of the early-modern Christian understanding of Islamic culture. In 1972 P. M. Holt used Roland's words to begin an essay about Henry Stubbe: "Paien ont tort e crestiien ont dreit" — "Pagans are wrong and Christians are right."

The Orlando narrative inspired several composers, amongst whom were Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel, who composed an Italian-language opera with Orlando.

The English expression, "to give a Roland for an Oliver", meaning either to offer a quid pro quo or to give as good as one gets, recalls the Chanson de Roland, and Roland's companion Oliver.^[3]

In popular culture[link]

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• Childe Rowland is a fairy tale, the most popular version being by Joseph Jacobs in his English Folk and Fairy Tales, published in 1892.
• English poet Robert Browning composed an epic poem, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came; the title of which comes from a line in William Shakespeare's play King Lear.
• American writer Stephen King has written a seven-volume series of epic fantasy novels called The Dark Tower, concerning the thousand-year quest of Roland Deschain, of Eld, based in part on Browning's Childe Roland.
• The game "Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken" has a character named Roland, one of the ancient heroes of the Scouring, who passes the sword Durandal to the main character. Several other characters in the game also take their names from the Song of Roland.
• The darkwave band The Cruxshadows released a song entitled "Roland," inspired by this legend, on their single Quicksilver.
• Roland is the leader of the Paladins in the live action movie Jumper (2008).
• Roland is the default name for the Paladin champion class hero in the game Master of Magic.
• Roland is in Age of Empires II.
• The Orlando character who appears in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series is an amalgamation of this character and several other fictional Orlandoes/Rolands.
• The song "Rolandskvadet" by Norwegian folk-metal band Glittertind is about Roland.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Adriana Kremenjas-Danicic (Ed.): Roland's European Paths. Europski dom Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik 2006 (ISBN 953-95338-0-5).
• Susan P. Millinger, "Epic Values: The Song of Roland," in Jason Glenn (ed), The Middle Ages in Texts and Texture: Reflections on Medieval Sources (Toronto, University of Toronto, 2012),

Ron Howard
Howard at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
Born	Ronald William Howard (1954-03-01) March 1, 1954 (age 58) Duncan, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1956–present
Spouse	Cheryl Alley (June 7, 1975–present)
Children	4 (including Bryce Dallas Howard)

Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American film director, producer and former child actor. He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years.^[1][2] He appeared in the films American Graffiti in 1973 and The Shootist in 1976, the latter during his run on Happy Days. Howard made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy Grand Theft Auto, and left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing. His films include the Academy Award-winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Beautiful Mind. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[3] Asteroid 12561 Howard is named after him.

Early life[link]

Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Jean Speegle Howard, an actress, and Rance Howard, a director, writer and actor.^[4] His father was born with the surname "Beckenholdt", and had taken the stage name "Howard" by 1948, for his acting career.^[5][6] Rance Howard was serving three years in the United States Air Force at the time of Ron's birth.^[7][8] The family moved to Hollywood in 1958, the year before the birth of his younger brother, Clint Howard. They rented a house on the block south of the Desilu Studios, where The Andy Griffith Show would later be filmed. They lived in Hollywood for at least three years, before moving to Burbank.

Howard was tutored at Desilu Studios in his younger years, and graduated from John Burroughs High School. He later attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts but did not graduate.^[9]

Career[link]

[edit] Early acting roles and The Andy Griffith Show

Howard with Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show, circa 1961.

In 1959, Howard had his first credited film role, in The Journey. He appeared in June Allyson's CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson in the episode "Child Lost"; in the The Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance"; a few episodes of the first season of the sitcom Dennis the Menace, as Stewart, one of Dennis's friends; and in the 24th episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Howard played "Timmy" (uncredited) in "Counterfeit Gun", Season 4, Episode 2 (1960) of the TV series, "The Cheyenne Show".

In 1960, Howard was cast as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show, a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show. Credited as "Ronny Howard", he portrayed the son of the title character (played by Andy Griffith) for all eight seasons of the show. Howard also spent a lot of time with Griffith off-screen.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1962 film version of "The Music Man," Howard played Winthrop Paroo, the child with the lisp; the film starred Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. He also starred in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie's Father, with Glenn Ford.

Billed as "Ronny Howard", he appeared as Barry Stewart on The Eleventh Hour, in the episode "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?" in 1965; on I Spy, in the episode "Little Boy Lost", in 1966; and as an underage Marine on M*A*S*H, in the episode "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet", in 1973. In the 1970s, he appeared in at least one episode of The Bold Ones, as a teenage tennis player with an illness.

Howard appeared on the 1969 Disneyland Records album The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion. It featured the story of two teenagers, Mike (Howard) and Karen (Robie Lester), who get trapped inside the Haunted Mansion. Thurl Ravenscroft plays the Narrator, Pete Reneday plays the Ghost Host, and Eleanor Audley plays Madame Leota. Some of the effects and ideas that were planned but never permanently made it to the attraction are mentioned here: the Raven speaks in the Stretching Room, and the Hatbox Ghost is mentioned during the Attic scene. It was reissued in 1998 as a cassette tape titled A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

[edit] Film roles and Happy Days

Howard at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Howard played Steve Bolander in George Lucas's coming-of-age film American Graffiti in 1973.^[2] When asked in 2000 if he would ever like to return to acting, Howard replied, "Only if I can act with Cindy Williams again", referring to the actress who played opposite him in American Graffiti.^{[citation needed]}

A role in an installment of series Love, American Style, titled "Love in The Happy Days", led to him being cast as Richie Cunningham in the TV series Happy Days. Beginning in 1974, he played the likeable "buttoned-down" boy, in contrast to Henry Winkler's "greaser" Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. On the Happy Days set, he developed an on- and off-screen chemistry with series leads Winkler and Tom Bosley, as they each developed their own private lives. The three remained friends until Bosley's death in 2010.

In 1976, Howard played Gillom Rogers in the movie The Shootist, with John Wayne. He had hopes they would work together again; he quotes Wayne as saying, about a couple of months after filming wrapped on The Shootist, "I found a good script, kid... it's you and me, or it's nobody."^{[citation needed]} But it was not to be, as Wayne had already been diagnosed with the terminal cancer that would kill him three years later. As a token of respect, Howard narrated the film's opening montage, which showed various clips from Wayne's long film career.

Howard's last significant on-screen role was a reprisal of his famous role as Opie Taylor in the 1986 TV movie Return to Mayberry, an Andy Griffith Show reunion reuniting him with Griffith, Don Knotts, and most of the cast. He also appeared in two Happy Days TV reunions: 1992's The Happy Days Reunion Special, a retrospective hosted by Winkler that aired on ABC; and 2005's The Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion, where he was reunited with most of the surviving cast.

Directing[link]

Before leaving Happy Days in 1980, Howard made his directing debut with the 1977 low-budget comedy/action film Grand Theft Auto.^[2] This came after cutting a deal with Roger Corman, wherein Corman would let Howard direct a film in exchange for Howard starring in Eat My Dust, with Christopher Norris.^[2] Howard went on to direct several TV movies.^[2] His big theatrical break came in 1982, with Night Shift, featuring Michael Keaton, Shelley Long, and Henry Winkler.^[2]

Howard in 2008 during the filming of Angels & Demons in Rome.

He has since directed a number of high-visibility films, including Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), Willow (1988), Parenthood (1989), Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels & Demons.

Howard's younger brother Clint has minor roles in most of his movies. He has also cast his father and mother in a number of roles. Both his wife Cheryl Howard and father Rance Howard appeared in Angels & Demons, as a CERN scientist and as Cardinal Beck, respectively.^[10]

Howard showcased the world premiere of his film Frost/Nixon at the 2008 London Film Festival in October 2008.^[11]

Howard was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award. Michael Keaton presented him with the Award.

Imagine Entertainment[link]

Howard and Brian Grazer at a Tribeca Film Festival panel on A Beautiful Mind

Howard is the co-chairman, with Brian Grazer, of Imagine Entertainment, a major^{[citation needed]} film and television production company. Imagine has produced several films including Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, and Inside Deep Throat, and the television series 24, Felicity and Arrested Development. Howard also narrated Arrested Development.

As part of Imagine Entertainment, he appeared in a 1997 print ad for Milk - Where's your mustache?, in which he wore a cap for Imagine Entertainment and sporting a milk mustache. Earlier versions show younger Ronny Howard on the other side.

Personal life[link]

On June 7, 1975, Howard wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl (née Alley), a writer with a degree in geriatric psychology. Their first child, daughter Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981. Their twin daughters Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard were born in 1985. Their fourth and last child and only son, Reed Cross Howard, was born in 1987. His daughters' middle names indicate where they were conceived, Bryce in Dallas, Texas, and twins Jocelyn and Paige at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. Son Reed Cross was named after a London street because "Volvo isn't a very good middle name", according to Howard.^[12] Daughters Bryce and Paige are actresses. Ron Howard became a grandfather when his daughter, Bryce, and son-in-law Seth Gabel welcomed their first child, son Theodore Norman Howard Gabel, on February 16, 2007. Ron Howard became a grandfather for the second time when Bryce and Seth welcomed their second child, daughter Beatrice Jean Howard Gabel, on January 19, 2012.

In the June 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Howard was asked, "What do you consider your greatest achievement?" He replied, "Forty-eight consecutive years of steady employment in television and film, while preserving a rich family life."

Howard in popular culture[link]

Howard appeared as himself twice in The Simpsons. In "When You Dish Upon a Star", Homer meets and befriends Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger and Howard. Later in the episode, Howard is injured when trying to jump from a truck to the RV that Homer was driving. In the end, he pitches Homer's movie idea and gets it greenlit. Another episode ("Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder") Homer and Howard are fighting each other while appearing on The Springfield Squares. Later, Howard gives Homer the inspiration to spend more time with his kids and offers him some money that Homer refuses at first but then takes. Howard yanks the money back and drives away.

When he hosted Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, Eddie Murphy called him "Opie Cunningham".

In the South Park episode "Ginger Kids", Cartman asks a crowd of fellow gingers to name great Americans with red hair, the only name they can think of is "Ron Howard". When asked to name a second, one responds "Ron Howard" again.

On a VH1 special about the 100 greatest child stars, many of the interviewees considered Ron Howard to be the most successful child star of all time, considering his two major television acting roles and his directing career.^{[citation needed]}

In the series finale of the Emmy Award-winning, critically acclaimed series Arrested Development (which he executive produced and narrated), Howard appears as himself in an epilogue at the end of the episode and refers to himself as "a Hollywood icon".

In Season 1, Episode 3 of Stroker and Hoop on Adult Swim, Stroker and Hoop run a detective agency whose first client needs them to make Ron Howard stop controlling his mind.

In October 2008, Howard reprised his roles as Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham for the first time in over 20 years when he appeared in a video on funnyordie.com in which he endorsed Barack Obama and urged people to vote. The video, titled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action",^[13] also features Griffith and Winkler. In the video, Howard shaves his beard and wears a wig in order to recreate the way he looked when he was younger.

Ron Howard made a cameo appearance in the 2009 music video for Jamie Foxx's song "Blame It" alongside Forrest Whittaker, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the video he is shown holding a glass of champagne.^[14]

Filmography[link]

Director[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Acting[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Producer only[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ron Howard at the Internet Movie Database
• Ron Howard at AllRovi
• Ron Howard's Television Schedule
• Ron Howard's Rush Formula 1 James Hunt and Niki Lauder 2013 Filming at the Nordschleife's Nurburgring
• 2002 Commencement Address (USC School of Cinema-Television)
• Ron Howard: Imagining the Wonders of Willow – Article at StarWars.com
• Ron Howard Archive of American Television interview
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Howard, Ron

Javier Bardem
Bardem at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011
Born	Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (1969-03-01) 1 March 1969 (age 43) Las Palmas, Spain
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Penélope Cruz (2010–present)
Children	Leo (2011)
Parents	José Carlos Encinas (father) Pilar Bardem (mother)

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (Spanish pronunciation: [xaˈβjer βarˈðen];^[1][2] born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los Lunes al sol and Mar adentro.

As well as the Academy Award, Bardem has been awarded a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, five Goya awards, two European Film Awards, a Prize for Best Actor at Cannes and two Coppa Volpis at Venice for his work. He is the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor, 2000, for Before Night Falls, lost to Russell Crowe for Gladiator), as well as the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award. He received his third Academy Award nomination, and second Best Actor nomination, for the film Biutiful.

Early life[link]

Bardem was born in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands (Spain). His mother, Pilar Bardem, is an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague, was a businessman who was involved in environmental work; the two separated shortly after his birth.^[3][4] His mother raised him alone.^[5] Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors who have been working since the earliest days of Spanish cinema; he is the grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and the nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem.^[6] Both his older brother and sister, Carlos and Mónica, are actors. Bardem was raised Roman Catholic by his grandmother.^[7][8] He also comes from a very political background, his uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by Franco for his anti-fascist films.^[5]

As a child he hung around theatres and film sets.^[5] At age six he made his first film appearance in Fernando Fernán Gómez's El Pícaro (The Scoundrel).^[5][9] He played rugby for the underage Spanish National Team.^[10][11] Though he grew up in a family full of actors, Bardem didn't see himself going into the family business. In actuality painting was his first love.^[12] He went on to study painting for four years at Madrid's 'Escuela de Artes y Oficios'.^[10][13] In need of money he took acting jobs to support his painting but, has expressed to have been a bad painter eventually leaving it.^[12] In 1989, for the Spanish comedy show El Día Por Delante (The Day Ahead) he had to wear a Superman costume for a comedic sketch, the job made him question whether he wanted to be an actor at all.^[14] Bardem has confessed to have worked as a stripper (for one day only) during his struggling acting career.^[15]

Career[link]

Bardem starred in his first major motion picture, The Ages of Lulu, when he was 20. He was propelled to fame in 1992 by his role as a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter in Jamón, jamón, which also starred a teenage Penélope Cruz.^[10] Bardem's talent did not go unnoticed in the English-speaking world. In 1997, John Malkovich was the first to approach the then 27-year-old for a role in English, but Bardem turned down the offer because his English was poor.^[11][16] His first English-speaking role came in 1997, in with director Alex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango, playing a santería-practicing bank robber. After starring in about two dozen films in his native country, he gained international recognition in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls in 2000, portraying Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.^[10] He received praises from (his idol) Al Pacino, the message was left on Bardem's answering machine which he considers one of the most beautiful gifts he's ever received.^[5] For the role he got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, a first time for a Spaniard. Immediately after, he turned down the role of "Witwer" in Minority Report which eventually went to Colin Farrell.^[17] In 2002 instead he starred in John Malkovich's directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs. Malkovich (who first approached Bardem in 1997) originally had him in mind for the role of the detective's assistant, but since the movie took so long to get financed it gave Bardem time to learn English and take on the lead role of the detective. "I will always be grateful to him because he really gave me my very first chance to work in English", Bardem said of Malkovich.^[11][16]

Javier Bardem and the Coen brothers at the Cannes Film Festival 2007.

Bardem won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Mar Adentro (2004), released in the United States as The Sea Inside, in which he portrayed the quadriplegic turned assisted suicide activist Ramón Sampedro. He made his Hollywood debut in a brief appearance as a crime lord who summons Tom Cruise's hitman to do the dirty work of dispatching witnesses in the crime drama Collateral. He stars in Miloš Forman's 2006 film Goya's Ghosts opposite Natalie Portman, where he plays a twisted monk during the Spanish Inquisition.^[18] In 2007, Bardem acted in two film adaptations: the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, and the adaptation of the Colombian novel Love in the Time of Cholera with Giovanna Mezzogiorno by Gabriel García Márquez. In No Country for Old Men, he played a sociopathic assassin, Anton Chigurh. For that role, he became the first Spanish actor and Spaniard to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[19] He also won a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the 2008 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bardem's rendition of Chigurh's trademark phrase, "Call it, friendo", was named Top HollyWORDIE of 2007 in the annual survey by the Global Language Monitor.^[20] Chigurh was named #26 in Entertainment Weekly magazine's 2008 "50 Most Vile Villains in Movie History" list.^[21] Bardem's life's work was honored at the 2007 Gotham Awards, produced by Independent Feature Project.

Bardem with co-stars for the film Biutiful at Cannes 2010.

Francis Ford Coppola singled out Bardem as an heir to, and even an improvement on, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro referring to Bardem as ambitious and hungry, unwilling to rest on his laurels and always "excited to do something good".^[5] Bardem was attached to play the role of Tetro's mentor in Coppola's film Tetro, but the director felt the character should be female so he was replaced by fellow Spaniard Carmen Maura.^[22][23] Bardem was originally cast to play fictional filmmaker Guido Contini in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Nine, but dropped out due to exhaustion.^[22][24] The part eventually went to Daniel Day-Lewis.^[25] He went on to star alongside Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). In 2010, he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Biutiful directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who specifically wrote the film with Bardem in mind.^[12] After being overlooked by the Globes and SAG, Bardem was the unexpected Oscar nominee on 25 January 2011, becoming the first all Spanish-language Best Actor nominee ever.^[26][27] He won his 5th Goya Award, this time for Best Actor in Biutiful, dedicating the win to his wife, Penélope Cruz, and newborn son.^[28][29] Around this same time he was offered the lead role of "Gunslinger" Roland Deschain in Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels. If he signs, he will star in the TV series as well. Then EON Productions offered him a role in the James Bond film, Skyfall.^[30] With Universal deciding not to go forward with the ultra-ambitious adaptation of the Stephen King 7-novel series and to end months of speculation Bardem officially confirmed his role in Skyfall during an interview with Christiane Amanpour for ABC's Nightline.^[31][32]