In addition to playing his on-screen son for many years, Ron Howard was able to get an inside look at who Andy Griffith truly was. Griffith and Howard acted side by side, playing father and son in The Andy Griffith Show. The two kept in touch as Howard grew older, and their relationship developed to the point where the two men were able to think of each other as peers, to share their innermost feelings.

According to Howard, Griffith once recalled his "big break" in film, starring in A Face in the Crowd.

"In 1957, he got his shot at film stardom, debuting in Elia Kazan's astonishing A Face in the Crowd, written by Budd Schulberg," wrote Howard in The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family. "The movie, a dark, prescient take on American politics and mass media, is more appreciated now than it was at the time of its release. But even then, critics were mesmerized by Andy's fiery performance as Lonesome Rhodes, a small-time radio host who, as his popularity snowballs, transforms into a lusty, egomaniacal demagogue."

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While the film earned much praise and kick-started Griffith's career, the actor remembered the experience of filming as bittersweet.

"Many years later, when I was a young adult, Andy told me that playing Lonesome Rhodes had been a harrowing experience for him," wrote Howard. "Kazan was a brilliant director, he said, but he had manipulated and provoked Andy to summon his darkest, ugliest thoughts and impulses, and the process about wrecked him."

Howard said that the experience changed the actor. "I don't ever want to do that again," said Griffith. "I like to laugh when I'm working."

There was a silver lining to this; Griffith's love of laughter propelled him to pursue comedy, and he later achieved that dream during the development of The Andy Griffith Show.

"Andy had his pick of dramatic roles after A Face in the Crowd, but he chose not to go down that path," wrote Howard. "The psychological toll had been too high. To some degree, Andy said, Mayberry and the Benevolent Sheriff Andy Taylor were a conscious response to Lonesome Rhodes, embodiments of rural America at its best."