The sitcom, which ran for eight seasons, followed the sheriff of Mayberry, Andy Taylor (Griffith). At five years old, Howard played Opie during the duration of the series from 1960 to 1968. Knotts was known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife — which won him five Emmys.

Decades before Happy Days and his career as a film director, Ron Howard, age 5, was best known as Opie, the son of Andy Griffith, a sheriff in the sleepy burg of Mayberry, North Carolina. Griffith's comic foil was Don Knotts as bumbling deputy Barney Fife.

Ron Howard, who found fame as a child star on the hit 1960s series “The Andy Griffith Show,” recently shared a photo on social media that showed him with his costars Andy Griffith and Don Knotts.