Andy Griffith, 1926–2012
The TV sheriff who solved problems
The wise country bumpkin is a staple of American television, and no one played the character as well as Andy Griffith. As Andy Taylor, the sage sheriff of Mayberry, N.C., he dispensed Southern smarts every week during the 1960s to the town’s eccentric inhabitants, including his inept but lovable deputy, Barney Fife. Griffith took it as a compliment that many viewers thought he was playing himself. “You’re supposed to believe in the character,” he said. “You’re not supposed to think, ‘Gee, Andy’s acting up a storm.’”
Born in Mount Airy, N.C., Griffith spent much of his childhood in poverty, said The Wall Street Journal. Determined to escape his hometown, Griffith mastered the trombone and won a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he started taking acting lessons. He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in the hit comedy No Time for Sergeants, and two years later played an Arkansas vagabond who becomes a power-crazed TV star in the movie A Face in the Crowd.
Griffith’s defining role came in 1960, when he was cast as Sheriff Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show. It ran for eight ratings-topping seasons until Griffith pulled the plug in 1968 “because I thought it was slipping, and I didn’t want it to go down further.” His career stalled until the 1986 debut of the TV legal drama Matlock, in which he played a “Harvard-educated lawyer with a down-home sensibility,” said the Los Angeles Times. Matlock ran for nine years, but Griffith knew he’d be remembered as Sheriff Taylor. “The backbone of our show was love,” he said. “There’s something about Mayberry and Mayberry folk that never leaves you.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published