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Andy Griffith
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The main character, Andy (Andy Griffith), was a widowed father of the polite little boy named Opie (Ron Howard) and is a sheriff, who works with nervous and very suspecting Barney Fife (Don Knotts). They all live in the nice southern town of Mayberry. But, Mayberry can get a little dangerous when the town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith) is on the loose. Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) is Barney\'s sweetheart, although Andy had to help him describe his feelings to her. Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) is the very loving and caring, but stern housekeeper for Andy and Opie. Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) is the bone-head, thoughtless, but humorous character.
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The Andy Griffith Show was one of the most popular and memorable comedy series of the 1960s. In its eight years on the air, from 1960 to 1968, it never dropped below seventh place in the seasonal Nielsen rankings, and it was number one the year it ceased production. The series pilot originally aired as an episode of Make Room For Daddy, a popular sitcom starring Danny Thomas. Sheldon Leonard produced both shows for Danny Thomas Productions.
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"In an age of instant celebrity, Andy Griffith has earned his fame the old-fashioned way through hard work," said Easley. "He is the rare performer that has mastered nearly every branch of the entertainment field, from music to stand-up comedy, outdoor theater, Broadway, television shows and movies. Andy Griffith's countless accomplishments make North Carolinians proud to call him a native Tarheel."
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Andy Griffith capitalized on a toothy grin and southern charm to make TV history with two successful series: The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) and Matlock (1986-95). Griffith got his start in the 1950s playing a country yokel, on radio and in recorded routines like "What It Was, Was Football." He parlayed that hayseed persona into a similar role in No Time for Sergeants, a hit as a TV movie (1955), a Broadway show (1955) and feature film (1958). Two years later he began his run on The Andy Griffith Show, a gentle comedy that co-starred Ron Howard as Griffith's freckled son Opie, and Don Knotts as Sheriff Andy's comical deputy Barney Fife. The show ran until 1968 and continued its popularity in decades of reruns. After several misfires during the 1970s, Griffith scored again with Matlock, in which he played a country-crafty trial lawyer (the show was such a hit with senior citizens that it became a running punch line for comedians).
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From All Movie Guide: At first intending to become a minister, actor/monologist Andy Griffith became active with the Carolina Playmakers, the prestigious drama-and-music adjunct of the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill. He spent several seasons portraying Sir Walter Raleigh in the summertime outdoor drama The Lost Colony, spending the rest of the years as a schoolteacher. Griffith continued performing fitfully as an after-dinner speaker on the men's club circuit, developing hilariously bucolic routines on subjects ranging from Shakespeare to football. Under the aegis of agent/producer Richard O. Linke, Griffith returned to acting, attaining stardom in the role of bumptious Air Force rookie Will Stockdale in the TV and Broadway productions of No Time For Sergeants. Before committing Sergeants to film, Griffith made his movie debut in director Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd, in which he portrayed an outwardly folksy but inwardly vicious TV personality (patterned, some say, after Arthur Godfrey).
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The Andy Griffith Show was based around widowed Sheriff Andy Taylor, raising his young son Opie (Ron Howard) in the rural North Carolina town of Mayberry. Sheriff Taylor was ... the town's justice of the peace dispensing summary judgments. He apparently had jurisdiction in the surrounding county as well. The first episode begins with their family housekeeper getting married (by Andy) and moving away. This sets up the arrival of Andy's Aunt Beatrice (Frances Bavier; called "Aunt Bee" by nearly everyone) who moves in to help take care of Opie.
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Andy Griffith