Sadly, we have a report from The Charlotte Observer that Andy Griffith has died today at the age of 86 in Manteo, North Carolina:
He was a vocalist, an actor, a stand-up comic, a producer and once even a schoolteacher, but we knew him best for creating the mythic Mayberry, a Camelot in bib overalls where home-spun wisdom reigned.
He was Andrew Samuel Griffith, but we knew him best as “Andy.” He died Tuesday at age 86 in Manteo.
“Andy Griffith means the world to the arts everywhere – not just here in Mount Airy,” said Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry Arts Council, which oversees the Andy Griffith Museum there. “We are blessed to have known him. We will cherish his art, his music, his talent, and of course, our beloved “Andy Griffith Show.’ ”
“Andy Griffith. His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations & shaped my life. I’m forever grateful. RIP Andy,” tweeted Hollywood director Ron Howard, whose formative years were spent on the set of “The Andy Griffith Show” as Opie, the precocious son of the small-town sheriff Andy Taylor.
In the landmark series about family values that entertained millions in the 1960s and thrives five decades later in syndication, their father-son relationship was one of the few that wasn’t played just for laughs.
While it’s likely that many Southern nationalists had some differences with Griffith’s politics, his characters, for which he will be remembered, were certainly positive Southern role-models. At a time when policemen everywhere in the United States were being transformed from local peace officers to law-enforcement officers, ‘Andy Taylor’ and the idyllic Southern town in which he lived were a reminder of what was being lost.
By the way, few people probably know this, but Griffith had an adopted daughter named Dixie.
I am so, so sad. I can’t stop crying. My childhood is truly gone now.
From the article, says it all for me: ““The Andy Griffith Show” has proven to be one of the most durable shows in television history, an American Gothic painted in flickering electrons.
“Our basic theme was love,” Griffith once said. “And understanding one another. And hoping the best for one another. Love.”” May Almighty God bless his soul and comfort his family and friends.
Andy Griffith was a Southern Yankee. He blamed those “damn southerners” for the assassination of JFK. I may have had a Southern accent but that was about all that was Southern about him.
Oops, that should be “He” rather than “I”
Wouldn’t it be great if we were all perfect?
SouthernAtHeart,
I didn’t mention a word about him not being perfect. Just only that he is a Southern Yankee (or a new Yankee man). His immediate reaction to the assassination of to blame “damn southerners” showed his contempt for the people of the South.
Be that as it may, he passed today and I believe that fact alone makes it the wrong time to disparage the man.
Yup, Andy was a scallywag alright….
But he was also no friend to Mt. Airy or many of his own relatives there. I knew one of his cousins several years ago. His cousin said Andy had disowned his family and people there. He wouldn’t respond to their writing him and he wouldn’t return for even a simple visit. Andy even protested a statue that people wanted to erect in Mt Airy honoring him, Barney and Opie. Andy didn’t want any others involved in any statue. If anyone had seen him in his political commercials, he fully supported the democrat party and I mean the most liberal side of it. Andy Griffith was no friend of the South, not even to his own family.. So, I’ve never had any use for him…
Michael- Deo Vindicabamur