7.03.2012

ANDY GRIFFITH....TV STAR DIED AT 86


Not sure if I have ever met a person that didn't like the Andy Griffith Show. Even in Europe they loved Andy. This TV show was so great you either laughed so loud or cried through it. Remember when Opie killed the bird with his slingshot? Sob through that episode to this day...


Don Knotts (Barney Fife)  Andy Griffith (Andy Taylor) and Ron Howard (Opie)




From Rolling Stone
July 3, 2012 11:30 AM ET


Andy Griffith

Television icon Andy Griffith, known to generations as the star of The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock, has died at age 86, a friend told WITN News in North Carolina. An emergency medical crew responded to a call from the actor's home in Dare County early this morning.


As the sheriff of the fictional town known as Mayberry, Griffith became one of TV's most beloved characters in the show that carried his name, which ran from 1960-1968. Future film director Ron Howard played Griffith's young son, Opie. Read more:

Andrew Samuel "Andy" Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead characters in the 1960–1968 situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show and in the 1986–1995 legal drama Matlock. Griffith died on July 3, 2012 at the age of 86.


Griffith was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the only child of Geneva (née Nunn) and Carl Lee Griffith. At a very young age, Griffith had to live with relatives until his parents could afford to get a home of their own. Without a crib or a bed, he slept in drawers for a few months. In 1929, when Griffith was three years old, his father took a job working as a carpenter and was finally able to purchase a home in Mount Airy's "blue-collar" southside.

Like his mother, Griffith grew up listening to music. His father instilled a sense of humor from old family stories. By the time he entered school he was well aware that he was from what many considered the "wrong side of the tracks". He was a shy student, but once he found a way to make his peers laugh, he began to come out of his shell and come into his own.


Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal "A Face in the Crowd"

As a student at Mount Airy High School, Griffith cultivated an interest in the arts, and he participated in the school's drama program. A growing love of music, particularly swing, would change his life. Griffith was raised Baptist and looked up to Ed Mickey, a minister at Grace Moravian Church, who led the brass band and taught him to sing and play the trombone.

Read More About Andy Here

Sheriff Andrew Jackson "Andy" Taylor (Andy Griffith) - Sheriff of the town of Mayberry. He is genial, good-natured and endears himself to the townsfolk with an air of good will, polite charm and keeps the peace by using common sense. He refuses to wear a gun or formalize his uniform with a tie, the image of which he says makes him more approachable. 



Andy is a widower with a young son, Opie, and tries to raise him with good sense and good values. Also in his home is his paternal Aunt Bea who arrives in the home shortly after the previous housekeeper Rose, marries and moves away. Although a widower, Andy has a steady string of girlfriends, but his longest-lasting relationship is with Helen Crump, Opie's teacher, whom he eventually marries.


Barney and Gomer Pyle

Deputy Bernard P. "Barney" Fife (Don Knotts) - Deputy of the town of Mayberry. Thin, wirey and high-strung, Barney fancies himself an expert lawman even though - in reality - he is actually a bumbling goof. In episodes 001 and 002, Andy refers to him as "Cousin Barney"; in episode 025, his middle name is said to be "Oliver". He considers his position to be essential to keeping Mayberry safe.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Put together so well Kim...Great story...:-)...

Unknown said...

Great story Kim..put together so well..:-D

Heather Harris said...

dynamic "A Face In the Crowd." Also, "Mayberry" is 2 miles from where I live: a street called Orion that substituted for the small town and still looks that way since the neighborhood made a cottage industry of tv production there. And the 'ol' fishin' hole is the Franklin Canyon Resesrvoir in Beverly Hills...

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