Breaking News: Andy Griffith dies

[12voltman59]

As a kid---the Andy Griffith show was one of my faves---it was just announced that at age 86, Sheriff Andy Taylor, AKA Actor Andy Griffith has died.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/andy-griffith-dead_n_1645969.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D175264

Both Andy's---RIP

[12voltman59]

Back before he played Andy Taylor---Griffith did this comedy sketch for which he had gained fame---I still find this to be fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNxLxTZHKM8

When I was a kid---my dad and his buddies at the time always talked about having their "Big Orange Drinks"---a term for their booze they got from this skit.

[Long Duck Dong]

oh fuck me........ I remember watching some of his shows growing up, even in NZ...lol......

I know that time waits for no person ..... but its a sad reminder that the past is fading into distant memory now....and many of the good old shows will be fondly missed.....dear matlock for one...... CIS is awesome but it lacks the matlock touch......

[csrakate]

Ahh....how many of us used to pretend to whistle the theme song???? Such fond memories of my childhood....such a wonderful actor and man. I remember the first time I heard "What it was, was football"! It remains one of my favorite skits to this day! RIP Andy! I'm sure heaven is just like Mayberry!....well maybe without the Darlings and Earnest T. Bass! LOL!

[Realist]

Aw, one of my all-time favorite TV shows, was the Andy Griffith Show.

I always wanted a kid, just like Opie...........but would have probably ended up with one like Barney Fife, or Goober!

I guess they're all gone, now. If only life could have been as simple as in Mayberry.

I remember that skit on the radio, Kate! Ol' Andy was a consummate story-teller!

[dick_pumper]

Very sad indeed. Andy was a character for sure and seemed like a nice human being. God bless him and his family.

[jarhead]

Real good link to Andy's early career, Volty. If you've ever watched No Time For Sergeants, you can see how that earthy, downhome humor came to play on the big screen The movie is stunning in a country bumpkins view on life. LOL

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

The only ones that are left are Jim Nabors(Gomer Pyle) and Opie(Ronny Howard) George Lindsy (Goober)just passed a few weeks ago, and Denver Pyle, (Who play Father Darling, and Uncle Jessie on the Dukes of Hazzard) passed a long time back. Even Floyd the Barber just passed in the last year. Its going to be a right fun time in Mayberry tonight. ;}
RIP Andy.
Cat.

[jem_is_bi]

I did not watched his show often, but I still feel sad about his death.
He was real part of my childhood that is gone forever and like so much else now just a memory.

[tenni]

His death is another reminder that nothing is static. I did really enjoy listening to the early tape on football and in particular his accent and perspective. Thanks Voltie. When the Andy Griffith show was on with him as sheriff, I found that I could not really relate to it. It seemed hokey to me. I enjoyed him more as Matlock. I saw yesterday a comment by him that the Andy Griffith show was about another era even when it was being filmed it was about the past. I suppose it is an ideal and as a time capsule speaks of an era that even fewer are alive today from. I think he referred to it as being about the 1930 more than the era it was created in. It was I guess a bit like Norman Rockwell paintings. Almost all pure idealism.

[æonpax]

I've watched the Andy Griffith Show a few times on the "Old Timers" channel where they show all the old TV programs like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Someone once told be that the fictional town of Mayberry was quite a unique place. A southern town with not a single black family living in or around it.

[Timmie]

Well now Barney will be able to get a day off. I'm sure being the only one patrolling the Pearlly Gates can get quite busy as things always happen in three's. Thank you Andy for being who you were and not being what Hollywood wanted, you always kept true to yourself and your beliefs. Don't fret none, Opie grew up to be a fine man. Give a howdy to Aunt Bee, Barney, Floyd, and Goober for me and maybe one day we can have a good ole jamborie. Will Stocktale is why I joined the DANG AIR FORCE.

[biguy71]

Nobody has even mentioned his film debut in the Elia Kazan movie A Face in the Crowd. It's a true classic, as are pretty much all of Kazan's movies, and Griffith's performance is incredible.

[pepperjack]

I've watched the Andy Griffith Show a few times on the "Old Timers" channel where they show all the old TV programs like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Someone once told be that the fictional town of Mayberry was quite a unique place. A southern town with not a single black family living in or around it.

Interesting point! Even The Jack Benny Program, ( considered racially groundbreaking and a decade ahead of The Andy Griffith show ) featured Rochester, Benny's manservant.

[void()]

Ahh....how many of us used to pretend to whistle the theme song???? Such fond memories of my childhood....such a wonderful actor and man. I remember the first time I heard "What it was, was football"! It remains one of my favorite skits to this day! RIP Andy! I'm sure heaven is just like Mayberry!....well maybe without the Darlings and Earnest T. Bass! LOL!

Was fortunate in having met the gentleman whom whistled the theme in grade school. He was a blind person as a simple matter of fact. His watch literally spoke the time to him. After years of practice, watching each day, I stopped pretending and got really good at the theme. Even trained up a cockatiel bird to sing it out. The bird became an alarm clock, 9 AM every morning Andy came on even if he didn't. Think regardless of any sort of belief/s, one had to admire and respect a sheriff whom seldom carried a gun and still managed to keep the peace. See you at the crawdad hole, Andy.

[odissius2b]

The theme song to the "Andy Griffith Show" was written by Earle Hagen. He was the same guy who wrote the famous jazz piece, "Harlem Nocturne". Check it out on YouTube!!