Unable to find work after Village of the Giants, it was rumored that Ronny Howard landed a bit part in the 50s-theme TV series Welcome Back, Fonzie. When provoked, Howard's character would always respond, “Kiss my grits!” A catch-phrase that received big laughs every week from a mildly-retarded studio audience.

In the 80s, Ronny Howard would try his luck behind the lens directing his first film. While little is known about this small, probably independent movie, the story was apparently a prequel to the Rocky movies and told the story of Apollo Creed's prepubescent years. The movie was aptly titled Apollo 13.

Ronny Howard circa 1989 with partiers Drew Barrymore, Rob Lowe, Cory Feldman and Cory Haim.

As the 90s approached, Howard's career continued its downward spiral. Addicted to drugs and frequenting the trendy L.A. club The Viper Room, he began to socialize with troubled teens such as Drew Barrymore and McKenzie Philips. This period of Howard's life is best expressed from the pages of his own diary that was obtained from an unknown source, badly photocopied, then paraphrased by a second unknown source:

June 2, 1989

Got totally high last night with Cory Feldman and Rob Lowe. We took speedballs until one in the morning and then got bored so we started combining speedballs with amphetamines. Then we got totally crazy and started mixing them with anything we could find. Speedballs with tequila, amphetamines with orange juice, Tylenol with meatloaf, meatloaf with a glass of milk. It got so nuts that it wasn't until a couple of days of partying that we realized we weren't combining things with drugs anymore. I remember the moment vididly. It was 5 a.m. and Rob, Cory and I were at a diner just outside of Santa Cruz. Cory was like, “Dude, I am so wasted!” I was like, “Dude, you're eating a buttermilk muffin.” When we realized we were sober, Cory looked at us, as if for the first time, and said, “What the hell am I doing with you losers? I'm going back to Hollywood to make it big!” He made good on his promise. I had lunch with Cory recently and he told me he nailed the lead in the movie License to Drive.

God, I wish I had just half his luck!