Ron Howard Details His Favorite Date Night Activity With His Wife, Even After 50 Years

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Director Ron Howard and actress Cheryl Howard attend the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 22, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.

Keeping a happy marriage alive and thriving isn’t always easy. But for award-winning director Ron Howard, spending time with his wife is one of his favorite activities.

Ron and Cheryl Howard married 51 years ago and they still enjoy a night out on the town together. In a new interview, “The Andy Griffith Show” star opened up about their favorite date night activity.

Ron Howard Gushes Over His Wife Cheryl

Ron Howard is known worldwide for his contributions to film and television. But at home, he’s just a husband and father. He married his wife, Cheryl, in 1975. More than 50 years later, they’re more in love than ever before.

PEOPLE caught up with the director to ask what he loves most about his wife, and what takes him straight back to the beginning of their love story.

“Her smile and her eyes, and that look that makes me fall in love again over and over and over again,” he excitedly told the outlet. “I’ve been very blessed to be her guy.”

Even after 50 years of marriage, the Howards love to have date night. Going to the movies has always been one of their favorite activities, which became challenging during the pandemic.

“Like America and the world, we’ve started going back to the movies again. Our romantic life has often been built around going to the movies, and that kind of dried up after COVID,” Ron Howard explained.

While there was always a new television show to watch, the director admitted it didn’t have the same pull and magic that cinema does.

“I think two things happened,” he told the outlet “One is that excitement about binge TV watching has dulled a little bit. There’s great work on television, but for a minute there, it was kind of the most urgent, exciting, creative thing that you could experience.”

“Then COVID hit, and now we’ve just rediscovered going back to the movies at least once a week and having a date,” Howard added.

The Couple Met in High School & Welcomed Four Children

After tying the knot in 1975, Ron and Cheryl Howard went on to welcome four children, including actress Bryce Dallas Howard.

In 2019, Ron Howard told PEOPLE that there really wasn’t one ultimate secret to marriage.

“People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique,” the director explained. “There’s no tactic other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways. Beyond that, there’s an element of luck because people either grow together or they don’t and I don’t think you can force that.”

The happy couple while attending high school in Burbank, California. They immediately hit it off and have been together ever since.

 “I met her, and there was never anybody else,” Howard told PEOPLE.

On social media, Ron Howard mostly posts about his work projects. But once in a while, he has an incredibly sentimental post dedicated to his wife.

“#GoldenAnniversary Grateful for 50 amazing years and the family and experiences it has yielded,” he shared in June 2025. “What an adventure down river through calm soothing waters and some tricky rapids as well. Our key….love and respect each other enough to just keep paddling. Thank God for you, Cheryl.”

Fans wish Ron and Cheryl Howard many more wonderful years and happy date nights together.