Andy Griffith dies at 86

[jimnyc]

Sad. This was an awesome guy. I LOVED watching his show growing up. There was just something "pure" about the entire show. I didn't even know he was a singer as well until I had gotten older. And then of course Matlock!


(Reuters) - Actor Andy Griffith, whose portrayal of a small-town sheriff made "The Andy Griffith Show" one of American television's most enduring shows, has died at his North Carolina home, television station WITN reported on Tuesday.

The television station quoted a longtime friend as saying that the 86-year-old actor died at his home on Roanoke Island. The Dare County Sheriff's dispatcher would say only that an ambulance was called to Griffith's residence but would not comment further.

Griffith created another memorable character, the folksy defense lawyer in "Matlock" in the 1980s and '90s, but it was his portrayal of Sheriff Andy Taylor on the "The Andy Griffith Show" in the 1960s that gave him a place in U.S. television history.

The show portrayed life in the friendly, slow-moving fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, which was widely believed to have been based on Griffith's own hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina.

http://news.yahoo.com/actor-andy-griffith-dies-north-carolina-tv-station-143143238.html

This is Andy Griffith actually singing the opening theme song!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6PVUit1-0Ck" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[ConHog]

Who didn't want to live in Mayberry?

[KarlMarx]

Barney
Goober
Aunt Bee
Floyd the Barber
Helen Crump
and many others...

now Andy

Mayberry isn't a place, it's a state of mind

RIP

[mundame]

Andy performed the first comic routine I ever heard, it was on a vinyl record in the '50s --- "What it was, was football!" It was hilarious. I can still quote from it.

[logroller]

I didn't know there were words; I thought, Andy singing the theme song...you mean whistling?

[Kathianne]

I never wanted to 'live' in Mayberry, I thought our suburb was too much like it as a kid. Neighbors not only knew your parents, they'd rat you out in a heatbeat. Heck, sometimes they'd yell at us kids on their own. LOL! The local paper wrote all police tickets, calls, arrests, fires, etc. I realized we were very lucky as I got older, (with the exception of the local rag which was gone by the time I was married), one of the reasons we chose that same suburb to raise our kids.

Indeed he recorded many albums, country of course:

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/griffith_andy/albums.jhtml

This pissed me off at the time, but I will forget it now and may he RIP:

http://gawker.com/5633224/old-people-turn-on-obama-sellout-andy-griffith


The government recently enlisted aged actor Andy Griffith (http://gawker.com/5600822/government-enlists-andy-griffith-to-explain-health-care-reform-to-old-people) for a commercial showcasing Medicare benefits available through health care reform (http://gawker.com/tag/healthcarereform/). North's Carolina's old people (http://gawker.com/tag/oldpeople/), at least, didn't appreciate these lies, and Griffith's favorability rating has dropped 25 percentage points there. (http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/09/even-griffiths-numbers-down.html)

[KarlMarx]

I never wanted to 'live' in Mayberry, I thought our suburb was too much like it as a kid. Neighbors not only knew your parents, they'd rat you out in a heatbeat. Heck, sometimes they'd yell at us kids on their own. LOL!

I grew up in the the Italian version of the same neighborhood except ... We had a family of old spinsters named the Fiorellis that was always snooping on the hijinx of the neighborhood kids and then would report to the parents.. we used to call them "The FBI" (for the Fiorelli Bureau of Investigation)..

turns out they were doing us a service...

[ConHog]

I didn't know there were words; I thought, Andy singing the theme song...you mean whistling?

better than Chuck Norris "singing" the theme to Walker.

[aboutime]

The only one left now from the Mayberry times in America is OOPIE!

Now a very successful director, and movie producer. Ron Howard is sadly, the last one left.

Excuse me. Jim Nabors is still alive. But we haven't heard from him lately.

Now....ALL TOGETHER.....Let's WHISTLE the familiar tune together. Just for Andy.

[jimnyc]

I didn't know there were words; I thought, Andy singing the theme song...you mean whistling?

Not sure if that's tongue in cheek or not, but did you click on the vid? He does in fact sing!

[ConHog]

The only one left now from the Mayberry times in America is OOPIE!

Now a very successful director, and movie producer. Ron Howard is sadly, the last one left.

Excuse me. Jim Nabors is still alive. But we haven't heard from him lately.

Now....ALL TOGETHER.....Let's WHISTLE the familiar tune together. Just for Andy.

He's in in his 50s I believe. Hard to believe that he has 2 series which have been syndicated for 30 plus years.

[Gaffer]

Andy performed the first comic routine I ever heard, it was on a vinyl record in the '50s --- "What it was, was football!" It was hilarious. I can still quote from it.


Buddy, hava drink.

:cheers2:

[hjmick]

better than Chuck Norris "singing" the theme to Walker.

Or Lorne Greene singing the theme to Bonanza.


No Time for Sergeants, still funny as hell.

[sundaydriver]

My best to Oppie, Aunt Bee, and all the folks in Mayberry.

I myself also loved his acting skill in movies and always wished he had done more.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUm9e_BLU&feature=player_detailpage

[Shadow]

Ron Howard: What I learned from Andy Griffith

Director and actor Ron Howard, who was just 5 when he first played Sheriff Andy Taylor's son, Opie, on "The Andy Griffith Show," talked to msnbc's Andrea Mitchell Tuesday about Griffith's death.

Howard, who went on to play Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days" and then to an acclaimed directorial career in the movies, said that Griffith "created an environment on that set that was very creative, very playful, but extremely disciplined."

http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/03/12546800-ron-howard-what-i-learned-from-andy-griffith?lite

[Gaffer]

Or Lorne Greene singing the theme to Bonanza.


No Time for Sergeants, still funny as hell.

He sang the theme on the B side of his record Ringo.

[red states rule]

Andy talking football


http://youtu.be/Jh_I6wEgRvk

[aboutime]

Buddy, hava drink.

:cheers2:


Funny you mentioned Andy's comedy sketch about football. I actually remember seeing that on a Black and White, 12 inch screen with a huge Box around it.
Reminded me of seeing my first color tv set....Watching the Wonderful World of Disney...in color, for the first time. I think it was 1959.

[red states rule]

Funny you mentioned Andy's comedy sketch about football. I actually remember seeing that on a Black and White, 12 inch screen with a huge Box around it.
Reminded me of seeing my first color tv set....Watching the Wonderful World of Disney...in color, for the first time. I think it was 1959.

Here is a clip from No Time For Sargeants with Don Knotts


http://youtu.be/noiPNDxZKk0

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I think Andy's death just brings to us fresh to the memory of how much we miss that time in our lives. I know that it especially struck me hard as did the death of James Arness (Marshall Matt Dillion) of Gunsmoke fame. O' how I'd love for my son and grandson to able to not only watch the Andy Griffith show but ALL those great TV western shows that helped form some of my core principles concerning justice and the fredoms we enjoy .
God bless those that previously so earnestly put forth higher moral standards that are so lacking today !-Tyr

[red states rule]

I think Andy's death just brings to us fresh to the memory of how much we miss that time in our lives. I know that it especially struck me hard as did the death of James Arness (Marshall Matt Dillion) of Gunsmoke fame. O' how I'd love for my son and grandson to able to not only watch the Andy Griffith show but ALL those great TV western shows that helped form some of my core principles concerning justice and the fredoms we enjoy .
God bless those that previously so earnestly put forth higher moral standards that are so lacking today !-Tyr

or Peter Graves who played the spy in "Stalag 17" and Jim Phelps in "Mission Impossible"

These were classic actors and not the chumps we have today who think they are classic actors