Middletonians wish TV/Movie Icon Ron Howard a happy 65th birthday while anticipating "Hillbilly Elegy" on film

We all remember Ron Howard as the cute kid who loved to go fishing with his “Pa” on the beloved ‘60s sitcom, “The Andy Griffith Show.”

So it’s only fitting that today we wish “Opie” a “Happy 65th Birthday!”

Now an “Academy Award-winning filmmaker” and “one of this generation’s most popular directors” (think ‘Apollo 13’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind’)*, Howard has Middletown-area fans eagerly awaiting the release of his upcoming movie depicting the life of one of their own : 2003 Middletown High School graduate J.D. Vance.

Based on Vance’s best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” the film is expected to be “fully” financed by movie-streaming giant Netflix “with Howard directing and producing through Imagine Entertainment…,” according to Variety.com.

Netflix “has committed to spend $45 million on the film…,” Variety continued.**

In October 2018 Downtown Middletown residents were happily shocked to see Ron Howard in town, apparently searching for sites that could double as settings for the movie.

Perhaps no one was more surprised than the patrons and employees at the Triple Moon Coffee Company, who spoke to and were photographed with the celebrity. Word is that the TV/movie icon enjoyed Triple Moon’s “Bad Hunter” vegetarian wrap, declaring it “a really good sandwich.” ***

“Best-selling author” is just one of many titles in Vance’s impressive resume. It includes U.S. Marine, Ohio State University and Yale University Law School graduate and investor. He reportedly lives in the Columbus, Ohio, area.

Published in 2016, “Hillbilly Elegy” shares the story of Vance’s upbringing, his family and their transition from poverty to middle class, navigating the demands of a new life amid the collective demons of the past. ****

To this day the memoir, which “...climbed to number one on the New York Times best-seller list two months after it was published” (*****) remains one of the most popular autobiographies ever checked out at MidPointe Library.

Sources:

*IMDb.com

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000165/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

**“Netflix Boards Ron Howard’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ in $45 Million Deal” by Dave McNary, January 25, 2019. Variety.com

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/ron-howard-hillbilly-elegy-netflix-1203117934/

***From “Ron Howard Looking for Places to Film in the Miami Valley for Upcoming Movie” by Rick McCrabb, published in the October 3, 2018 Journal News.

www.journal-news.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/spotted-ron-howard-looking-for-places-film-the-miami-valley-for-upcoming-movie/P6sSXY3mbDGpb990WY5mdI/

****MidPointe Library catalog:

http://encore.middletownlibrary.org/iii/encore/search/C__SJ.D.%20Vance__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

***** “Los Angeles Review of Books,” January 10, 2018.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rebel-yale-reading-feeling-hillbilly-elegy/#!

J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” is available at MidPointe Library in book, audiobook and e-book formats. View our catalog at:

http://encore.middletownlibrary.org/iii/encore/search/C__SJ.D.%20Vance__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

MidPointe also offers a vast eLibrary via its home page:

www.midpointelibrary.org > eLibrary > eBooks

Access it directly:

https://www.midpointelibrary.org/page/ebooks

No library card? No problem! Sign up for your free library card at any MidPointe location : Middletown, West Chester, Trenton, Monroe and Liberty Center in Liberty Township.