- - Ron Howard Reveals the “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” Plot Point His Mom Inspired and Why He Dedicated the Film to Her

Victoria EdelDecember 26, 2025 at 2:00 AM

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Ron Howard (left); Christine Baranski as Martha May in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (right) -

Ron Howard opened up about the making of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and why he dedicated the movie to his mom, Jean Speegle Howard

Ron also explained which plot point she ended up inspiring

Ron also cast his dad Rance and brother Clint in the movie

Viewers might not realize it, but Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a family affair.

Ron, 71, opened up about the movie in Vulture’s sprawling oral history of the film, published Dec. 12. The movie, released Nov. 17, 2000, starred Jim Carrey as the Grinch (with the help of legendarily difficult makeup). Taylor Momsen played Cindy Lou Who.

Ron told Vulture why he decided to dedicate the movie to his mom Jean Speegle Howard, who died in September 2000 at the age of 73. Ron said his mom was sick during filming. “We were filming on the Universal lot, and she was at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, so I could get to her. And my dad and brother, who both had roles in the movie, were popping over to visit as well,” he said. “I dedicated the movie to her because she just loved Christmas. My mom passed away several months before the movie came out.”

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Ron Howard (left) and mom Jean Speegle Howard

In the movie, Molly Shannon’s Betty Lou Who (Cindy’s mom) and Christina Baranski’s Martha May Whovier (her next-door neighbor and the Grinch’s love interest) get into a battle over whose house is better decorated for the holidays. Betty Lou uses almost every light her house has, while Martha May uses a gun that shoots lights perfectly on to her house. Ron told the outlet their showdown was inspired by his mom Jean.

“My mom would actually win the neighborhood contest in Burbank, California, for the best Christmas decorations,” he said. “It was just lights, but gaudy as hell.”

He has a particular memory of one year when he tried to help her; his dad Rance and brother Clint, both also actors, were away filming the 1967 TV series Gentle Ben. “I was old enough that I felt like I should be helping. I was also lazy enough that I didn’t volunteer very early in the process,” he said.

“As it got later, she was more and more desperate to get these lights up, and it was starting to rain. I remember her up on a ladder, trying to string these lights with a cigarette dangling from her lips, in her muumuu,” he said, an image very similar to how Betty Lou ends up in the film. “I’m like, ‘Mom, I can do it!’ ‘No, you can’t!’ ‘Let me hold the ladder!’ ‘No, it’s raining, go inside!’ ”

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From left: TJ Thyne, Molly Shannon, Jeremy Howard, Taylor Momsen and Bill Irwin in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'

Rance, who died in 2017 at age 89, and Clint, 66, both ended up with parts in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Clint plays a mayoral aide, while Rance was the Elderly Timekeeper.

“My dad was also almost like a spirit guide,” Ron told the outlet. “He was about 70 years old and was working every day on the movie. I created one character for him, but he was so good that we wound up grabbing a line here and a moment there so that he could be in it almost every day. He just quietly showed up on time, sat in that chair for the required three hours, and acted like he was having the time of his life.”

Ron also said it was his wife, Cheryl, who ultimately helped convince him to direct the movie at all. The last time he had made a family-friendly fantasy, 1988’s Willow, it had been “incredibly challenging and exhausting.” Even though he was “proud,” he didn’t want to do it again.

But then Cheryl, 71, helped him get to the heart of it. “She said, ‘The story is all about commercialism. And if Whoville has just gotten ridiculous, maybe Cindy Lou could have an attitude about that. So in a way, it could be an affirmation story for her and a lesson for all the Whos.’ I thought, ‘Oh, what if that’s the third act? What if we deal with this commercialism, deal with his alienation,’ which was a very Seussian theme.”

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”