![]() This character - law-abiding, fatherly and lovable - was like a latter-day homage to Sheriff Andy Taylor, updated with silver hair and a shingle. ![]() On this light-hearted legal drama, Griffith played a cagey Harvard-educated attorney who was Southern-bred and -mannered with a leisurely law practice in Atlanta.ĭecked out in his seersucker suit in a steamy courtroom (air conditioning would have spoiled the mood), Matlock could toy with a witness and tease out a confession like a folksy Perry Mason. President George W Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Andy Griffith in 2005 as awardees Aretha Franklin (L) and Alan Greenspan (2nd L) applaud He would go on to record a country and gospel album during his time on The Andy Griffith Show, but his television career would not see such a strong resurgence until 1986 with Matlock, which aired through 1995. The legendary star attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a degree in Music and worked as a choral director at local Goldsboro High School before he became an accomplished singer and television star. It is little-known he also sang as part of some of his acting roles, including his big screen debut in 1957's A Face in the Crowd. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 2005, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country's highest civilian honors. Establishing Griffith's skill at playing a lovable rube, this hit film paved the way for his sitcom. No Time for Sergeants, released as a film in 1958, cast Griffith as Will Stockdale, an over-eager young hillbilly who, as a draftee in the Air Force, overwhelms the military with his rosy attitude. ![]() Griffith had a career that spanned more than a half-century and included Broadway, notably in the 1950s comedy No Time for Sergeants. 'But I guess you could say I created Andy Taylor,' he said. He described himself as having the qualities of one of his last roles, that of the cranky diner owner in Waitress, and also of his most manipulative character, from the 1957 movie 'A Face in the Crowd.' In a 2007 interview, Griffith said he wasn't as wise as the sheriff, nor as nice. With great grace, he handled the constant barrage of people wanting to talk to Andy Taylor,' Fincannon said. That role 'put heavy pressure on him because everyone felt like he was their best friend. TV legend: Griffith, pictured here in 2004, suffered suffered for years from multiple illnesses Griffith was more complicated than the role he played - witnessed by his three marriages if nothing else.īut that perception led people to believe Griffith was all that was good about North Carolina and put pressure on him to live up to an impossible Hollywood standard. The show also starred Don Knotts and was one of the top hits of the 1960s and a perennial in reruns.Īlthough he acknowledged some similarities between himself and the wise sheriff who oversaw a town of eccentrics, they weren't the same. The show portrayed life in the friendly, slow-moving fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, which was widely believed to have been based on Griffith's own hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina. He also created another memorable character, the folksy defense lawyer, Matlock, in the hit 1980s and '90s but it was his portrayal of Sheriff Andy Taylor on the The Andy Griffith Show in the 1960s that gave him a place in U.S. Griffith's starring role as a small-town sheriff on his eponymous show made him an enduring TV favourite.
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