Just three-ish degrees of separation exist between one memorable Golden Globe red carpet moment and our neighborhood. It’s a stretch, but bear with me. You might learn some interesting trivia that will come in in handy at your next Lake Highlands High School reunion.
Bryce Dallas Howard, known for her roles in “The Help” and “The Village,” presented an award at last night’s Golden Globes. She caused a stir when she told a reporter she bought her dress off the rack at Neiman Marcus. Her size 6 figure is inconveniently large for fashion designers to work with, she implied, which, according to the Washington Post, “sent a ripple across social media and, perhaps, if we are lucky, landed like a reprimanding thud within the fashion industry.”
Howard is the firstborn daughter of director Ron Howard, whose second movie, “Cotton Candy” was filmed predominantly at Lake Highlands High School in 1978. It just so happens that we are working on a story about “Cotton Candy” for the February magazine. When I started my research, I reached out to Ron Howard, his publicist and his brother Clint, and followed Ron on Facebook, where I saw his post this morning about being a “proud dad.”
I haven’t yet heard back from the Howards, but I have interviewed neighborhood residents who appeared in the movie. They all say Ron Howard was a super personable guy who hung around after filming, chatting with the LHHS students who played extras in “Cotton Candy.” They all knew him at the time as Richie Cunningham on “Happy Days.” One LHHS grad we interviewed says, “He was just like his character.”
Bryce Dallas Howard was born in 1981, three years after “Cotton Candy” premiered. According to IMDB, she was “conceived in Dallas, TX,” and named for our city, which the Howards must have liked very much.