Andy Griffith

For other uses, see Andy Griffith (disambiguation).

Andy Griffith
Griffith receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005
Born	Andy Samuel Griffith
Occupation(s)	Actor, Comedian, Director, Producer, Singer (Country, Bluegrass & Southern Gospel), Writer
Years active	1957 – Present
Spouse(s)	Barbara Edwards (1949–1972 - divorced) Solica Cassuto (1975–1981 - divorced) Cindi Knight (1983—present)

Andy Samuel Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is 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 1960s sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, and in the 1980s-1990s legal drama, Matlock. Griffith was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush on November 9, 2005.

Early life and education

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 3, his father took a job working as a carpenter and was finally able to purchase a home.

Like his mother, Griffith grew up listening to music. 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 into his own. 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 would change his life. Griffith 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. Mickey nurtured Griffith's talent throughout high school until graduation in 1944. Griffith was delighted when he was offered a role in The Lost Colony, a play still performed today in the historic Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina. He performed as a cast member of the play for several years, playing a variety of roles, until he finally landed the role of Sir Walter Raleigh, the namesake of North Carolina's capital.

He began college studying to be a Moravian preacher, but changed his major to music. He attended the The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill (UNC), North Carolina, and earned a bachelor of music degree in 1949. While at UNC he was president of the UNC Men's Glee Club and was a member of the Alpha Rho Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, America's oldest fraternity for men in music. After graduation, he taught English at Goldsboro High School, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, for a few years.

Career

Comedian to film star

Griffith's early career was as a monologist, delivering long comic stories such as What It Was, Was Football, which is told from the point of view of a rural backwoodsman trying to figure out what was going on in a football game. Released as a single in 1953, the monologue was a hit for Griffith, reaching #9 on the charts in 1954. By 1955, he was on Broadway in New York City, New York, starring in No Time for Sergeants, a play about a country boy in the U.S. Air Force. Griffith reprised his role for the play's movie version in 1958; the film also featured Don Knotts as a corporal in charge of manual dexterity tests, marking the beginning of a life-long association between Griffith and Knotts. No Time for Sergeants is also considered the direct inspiration for the television situation comedy Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Also in 1958, Griffith portrayed a U.S. Coast Guard sailor in the movie Onionhead, but the film was not a critical or commercial success.

Dramatic pinnacle

In 1957, Griffith starred in the feature film A Face in the Crowd. Although he plays a "country boy", this "country boy" is manipulative and power-hungry, a drifter who becomes a television host and uses his show as a gateway to political power. Co-starring Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, Tony Franciosa and Lee Remick (in her film debut), this now-classic film showcases Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor and singer.

The film demonstrated, quite early-on, the power that television can have upon the masses. Directed by Elia Kazan, written by Budd Schulberg, ostensibly based on the alleged on-stage phoniness of Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey, the prescient film was seldom run on television until the 1990s.

A 2005 DVD reissue included a mini-documentary on the film with comments from Schulberg and surviving cast members Griffith, Franciosa and Neal. Griffith, revered for his wholesome image for decades, revealed a more complex side of himself in the mini-documentary recalling Kazan prepping him to shoot his first scene with Remick who played a teenage baton twirler and captivates Griffith's character on a trip to Arkansas.

Television roles

Griffith's first appearance on television was in 1955 as the star in the television adaption of the play No Time for Sergeants on The United States Steel Hour, an anthology series. It was the first of two appearances on The United States Steel Hour.

Before The Andy Griffith Show (see below), Griffith appeared as a county sheriff (who was also a Justice of the Peace and the editor of the local newspaper) in an episode of Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas. This episode, in which Thomas's character is stopped for speeding in a little town, served as a backdoor pilot for Griffith's own show. Both shows were produced by Sheldon Leonard.

The Andy Griffith Show

Beginning in 1960, Griffith starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show, for the CBS television network, alongside other successful 1960s family-oriented sitcoms that dealt with widowhood, such as: My Three Sons, Family Affair, Beulah, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, Julia, The Courtship of Eddie's Father and The Brady Bunch.

The show took place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, where Taylor, a widower, was the sheriff and town sage.

From 1960-1965, the show co-starred character actor, comedian and Griffith's longtime friend, Don Knotts. Knotts played the role of Deputy Barney Fife, Taylor's best friend and partner. He was also Andy's cousin in the show. In the series premier, in a conversation between the two, Barney calls Andy "Cousin Andy, and Andy calls Barney "Cousin Barney". The show also starred child actor, Ron Howard (then known as Ronny Howard), who played Taylor's only child, Opie.

It was an immediate hit. Although Griffith never received a writing credit for the show, he worked on the development of every script. While Knotts was frequently lauded and won multiple Emmy Awards for his comedic performances, Griffith was never nominated for an Emmy Award during the show's run.

In 1967, Griffith was under contract with CBS to do one more season of the show. However, he decided to quit the show to pursue a movie career and other projects. The series continued as Mayberry R.F.D., with Ken Berry starring as widower farmer and many of the regular characters recurring, some regularly and some as guest appearances. Griffith served as executive producer and guest starred in five episodes. He made one final appearance as Andy Taylor in the 1986 reunion TV movie Return to Mayberry.

Other series and Matlock

After leaving his still-popular show in 1968, Griffith starred in less-successful television series such as The Headmaster (1970), The New Andy Griffith Show (1971), Salvage 1 (1979), and The Yeagers (1980).

After spending time in rehabilitation for leg paralysis because of Guillain-Barré syndrome in 1986, Griffith returned to television as the title character Ben Matlock, in the legal drama Matlock. Matlock was a country lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, who was known for his Southern drawl and always winning his cases. By the end of its first season it was a ratings powerhouse on Tuesday nights. Although the show was nominated for four Emmy Awards, Griffith once again was never nominated.

During the series' sixth season, he served as writer, executive producer, and director of the show.

Griffith has also made other character appearances through the years on Playhouse 90, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Mod Squad, Hawaii Five-O, The Doris Day Show, Here's Lucy, The Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, among many others. He also reprised his role as Ben Matlock on Diagnosis: Murder in 1997, and his most recent guest-starring role was in 2001 in an episode of Dawson's Creek.

Movies

For most of the 1970s, Griffith starred or appeared in many television films including The Strangers In 7A (1972), Winter Kill (1974) and Pray for the Wildcats (1974). Griffith received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie for his role in the television film Murder In Texas (1981) and won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the television film Murder in Coweta County (1983), co-starring music legend Johnny Cash as the sheriff. He also appeared as another in Savages (1974), a television film based on the novel Deathwatch by Robb White.

During this period, Griffith also appeared in two feature films, both of which were flops at the box office. He co-starred with Jeff Bridges as a 1930s western actor in the comedy Hearts of the West (1975), and appeared alongside Tom Berenger as a villainous colonel and cattle baron in the western comedy Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985). He also appeared as a comical villain in the feature film Spy Hard (1996) starring Leslie Neilsen.

Griffith stunned many unfamiliar with his A Face in the Crowd work in the television film Crime of Innocence (1985), where he portrayed a callous judge who routinely sentenced juveniles to hard prison time. In the television film A Holiday Romance (1999), Griffith played the role of "Jake Peterson." In the 2001 film "Daddy and Them", Griffith portrayed a patriarch of a dysfunctional southern family.

In the feature film Waitress (2007), Griffith played a a diner owner. He also appeared in romantic comedy feature film Play The Game (2008) playing a lonely, widowed grandfather re-entering the dating world after a 60-year hiatus.

Singing and recording career

Griffith sang as part of some of his acting roles, most notably in A Face In The Crowd and in many episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. In recent years, he has recorded successful albums of classic Christian hymns for Sparrow Records.

Griffith appeared in country singer Brad Paisley's music video "Waitin' on a Woman" (2008).

Hallmarks

Griffith's hallmarks are driving two separate Ford automobiles: (a Galaxie on The Andy Griffith Show, and a Crown Victoria on Matlock), his Southern drawl, wearing his gray suit (on Matlock), and playing characters who have a folksy, friendly personality.

Name dispute

William Harold Fenrick of Platteville, Wisconsin, legally changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith and ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Grant County in November 2006. Subsequently, actor Griffith filed a lawsuit against Griffith/Fenrick, asserting that he violated trademark, copyright and privacy laws by changing his name for the "sole purpose of taking advantage of Griffith's notoriety in an attempt to gain votes." However, on May 4, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz ruled Griffith/Fenrick did not violate federal trademark law because he did not use the Griffith name in a commercial transaction but instead “to seek elective office, fundamental First Amendment protected speech.”

Friendship with Knotts and Howard

Knotts

Griffith's relationship with Knotts began in 1955, when they co-starred in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants. Several years later, Knotts co-starred on The Andy Griffith Show for five seasons. Knotts also had a recurring role on Matlock. After leaving the shows, Knotts and Griffith kept in contact with one another until Knotts's death in early 2006. An interview with Entertainment Tonight reported that Griffith traveled from his Manteo, North Carolina, home to Los Angeles, California, to visit a terminally ill Knotts in the hospital as Knotts succumbed to complications of lung cancer.

Howard

Griffith's longtime friendship with Howard began in 1960, when the child actor guest-starred alongside Griffith on an episode of Make Room For Daddy which led to the start of The Andy Griffith Show that same year. For eight seasons, Griffith and Howard shared a unique father-son relationship on the set. When the show ended, Howard guest-starred alongside Griffith on its spin-off show, Mayberry R.F.D., where Griffith's character married his long-time girlfriend. The two also appeared in an episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., in an episode in which Howard's character, Opie, runs away from home and attempts to enlist in the U.S. Marines, and in Return to Mayberry, where the now-adult Opie is about to become a father. Howard did not make any cameo appearances on Matlock, but was invited to the People's Choice Awards in 1987, where Griffith was honored.

Howard and Griffith keep in touch by telephone, sharing news about family and personal activities. Howard and his family attended Waitress (2007), which they reportedly enjoyed. To this day, Griffith still calls Howard by his childhood nickname, "Ronny."

In October 2008, Griffith and Howard briefly reprised their Mayberry roles in an online video, entitled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action". It was posted to comedy video website Funny Or Die and encouraged people to vote and endorsed Democratic Party U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and U.S. vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Personal life

Griffith married Barbara Bray Edwards in 1949 and they adopted a son, Andrew Samuel Griffith Jr. (known as Sam Griffith), a real-estate developer (born in 1957) and a daughter, Dixie Nan. They divorced in 1972. Sam died in 1996 after years of alcoholism.

In 1973 Griffith married Solica Cassuto; they divorced in 1981.

He married Cindi Knight, on April 2, 1983.

In addition to his online video with Howard in 2008, in politics Griffith has favored Democrats and recorded television commercials endorsing North Carolina Governors Mike Easley and Bev Perdue. He spoke at the inauguration ceremonies of both.

Health

Griffith's first serious health problem was in April 1983, when he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome and couldn't walk for seven months because of paralysis from the knees down.

On May 9, 2000, Griffith underwent quadruple, heart-bypass surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

After a fall, Griffith underwent hip surgery on September 5, 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Albums

• What it Was, Was Football (as Deacon Andy Griffith) on Capital Records - EAP 1-498, (1953)
• Just for Laughs (1958)
• Shouts the Blues and Old Timey Songs (1959) (album includes a guest appearance by bluesmen Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry).
• American Originals (1993)
• I Love to Tell the Story: 25 Timeless Hymns (1996)
• Somebody Bigger Than You and I (1996)
• Sings Favorite Old-Time Songs (1997)

• Just as I Am: 30 Favorite Old Time Hymns (1998)
• Wit & Wisdom of Andy Griffith (1998)
• Favorite Old Time Songs (2000)
• Absolutely the Best (Remastered) (2002)
• Back to Back Hits (2003)
• The Christmas Guest (2003)
• Bound for the Promised Land: The Best of Andy Griffith Hymns (2005)
• The Collection (2005)
• Pickin' and Grinnin': The Best of Andy Griffith (2005)

Filmography

Features

• A Face in the Crowd (1957)
• No Time for Sergeants (1958)
• Onionhead (1958)
• The Second Time Around (1961)
• Angel in My Pocket (1969)
• Hearts of the West (1975)
• Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985)

• Spy Hard (1996)
• Daddy and Them (2001)
• The Very First Noel (2006) (voice)
• Waitress (2007)
• Christmas Is Here Again (2007) (voice)
• Play The Game (2008)

Short subjects

• Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968)
• What It Was, Was Football (1997)

• Waitin' on a Woman (music video by Brad Paisley (featuring Griffith) (2008)

Television work

• The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968)
• The Headmaster (1970-1971)
• The New Andy Griffith Show (1971) (canceled after 13 episodes)
• The Strangers In 7A (1972)
• Go Ask Alice (1973)
• Pray for the Wildcats (1974)
• Winter Kill (1974)
• Savages (1974)
• Adams of Eagle Lake (1975) (canceled after 2 episodes)
• Street Killing (1976)
• Six Characters in Search of an Author (1976)
• Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976) (voice)
• The Girl in the Empty Grave (1977)
• Deadly Game (1977)
• Centennial (1978) (miniseries)
• Salvage 1 (1979) (canceled after 20 episodes)

• From Here to Eternity (1979) (miniseries)
• Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (miniseries)
• The Yeagers (1980) (canceled after 2 episodes)
• Murder in Texas (1981)
• For Lovers Only (1982)
• Murder in Coweta County (1983)
• The Demon Murder Case (1983)
• Fatal Vision (1984) (miniseries)
• Crime of Innocence (1985)
• Return to Mayberry (1986)
• Matlock (1986-1995)
• Under the Influence (1986)
• The Gift of Love (1994)
• Gramps (1995)
• Scattering Dad (1998)
• A Holiday Romance (1999)

Honors

File:MayberryStatue.jpg

Statue in Mount Airy, North Carolina

Mount Airy annually celebrates Griffith and his eponymous television series with "Mayberry Days", named after the fictional community of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show.

A statue of the Mayberry characters, Andy and Opie, was constructed in Pullen Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy.

C.F. Martin & Company, guitar manufacturers, offers an Andy Griffith signature model guitar.

Griffith received a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album for I Love to Tell the Story - 25 Timeless Hymns in 1997.

In 1999 Griffith was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame with fellow artists Lulu Roman, Barbara Mandrell, David L. Cook, Gary S. Paxton, Jimmy Snow, Loretta Lynn and Jody Miller.

In October 2002, an 11-mile (18 km) stretch of U.S. Highway 52 that passes through Mount Airy was dedicated as the Andy Griffith Parkway.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush on November 9, 2005.

A few weeks earlier, he had helped preside over the reopening of UNC's Memorial Hall and donated a substantial amount of memorabilia from his career to the university.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

External links

• Please use a more specific IBDB template. See the documentation for available templates.
• Inventory of the Andy Griffith Papers, 1949-1997, in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill.
• "Judge: Wis.'s 'Andy Griffith' Did Not Harm Actor", AP news report on the May, 2007 ruling in favor of William Harold Fenrick.
• "What it was, was football", includes links to audio of the routine and MAD magazine treatment.
• Fans created replica of Sheriff Andy Taylor's Mayberry home for B&B
• Taylor home replica inn
• News & Observer profile
• Play The Game website

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