Actors - Andy Griffith

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	Actors - Andy Griffith

Andrew Samuel "Andy" Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, singer, writer and producer from Mount Airy, North Carolina. He is a genuine country boy who made sophisticated humor based on his own background.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a bachelor's degree in music 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, Goldsboro, NC for a few years.

TV legacy

Griffith is best known as "Sheriff Andy Taylor" in the popular 1960s television series The Andy Griffith Show and in the title role in the television series Matlock, which ran from 1986 to 1995.

Comedian to film star

Griffith started out in show business as something of a stand-up comedian, although a better description might be monologist. His first success was a 1953 live recording of "What it was, was football", a story about a country boy at his first football game, delighting in the "big orange drinks" and the boys running up and down the "cow pasture" in "the awfulest fight I most ever saw" and "these purty girls a-wearin' these little-bitty short dresses, and a-dancin' around". Later that year, he recorded "Number One Street", telling the story of a rural family travelling to Florida on United States Highway 1.

By 1954, he was on Broadway, starring in No Time for Sergeants
, a play about a country boy in the Air Force, made into a film in 1959, in which he also starred, and which is considered the direct inspiration for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..

Dramatic pinnacle

In 1957, Griffith starred in A Face in the Crowd
. Again, he played a country boy, but this time the country boy was a terrifying psychopath who became a television host and used his show as a gateway to political power. This classic film showcased Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor and singer, and also showed early on the power of television upon the masses. (Directed by Elia Kazan, this superbly prescient film was seldom run on television until the 1990s.)

The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show, which aired from 1960 to 1968, became an instant hit with its American audience. Viewers immediately felt a connection with Taylor, his son "Opie" (Ron Howard), "Aunt Bee" (Frances Bavier), Deputy "Barney Fife" (Don Knotts), "Gomer Pyle" (Jim Nabors), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey) and the entire town of "Mayberry".

Matlock and other series

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

He scored another prime-time hit in 1986 with Matlock. Griffith played the title role of Benjamin Matlock, a criminal defense attorney with a Southern drawl, a signature grey suit, and an open countenance that belied his sly intelligence, The series ran from from 1986 to 1993 on NBC and from 1993 until 1995 on ABC. Distributed by Viacom it has seen long-running success in syndication.

TV movies

He also starred in many television films such as The Strangers In 7A (1972), Winter Kill
(1974) and Pray for the Wildcats
(1974). In 1981 Griffith won an Emmy nomination for his role in the TV film Murder In Texas and in 1983 won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the TV film Murder In Coweta County, co-starring music legend Johnny Cash as the hero. He also had an appearance as the villain in the 1996 movie Spy Hard.

Singing and Recording Career

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

Honors

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005 . A few weeks earlier, he helped preside over the reopening of the Memorial Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and donated a substantial amount of memorabilia from his career to the university.

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