
"But I guess you could say I created Andy Taylor," he said.
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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 with The Associated Press, 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. He described his friend as the symbol of North Carolina. Strangers who asked where Griffith lived would receive circular directions that took them to the beach, said William Ivey Long, the Tony Award-winning costume designer whose parents were friends with Griffith and his first wife, Barbara.Ĭraig Fincannon, who runs a casting agency in Wilmington, met Griffith in 1974. He protected his privacy in the coastal town of Manteo, by building a circle of friends who revealed little to nothing about him. 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. Griffith passed away this morning at his home peacefully and has been laid to rest on his beloved Roanoke Island," Doughtie told The Associated Press, reading from a family statement.Īlthough he acknowledged some similarities between himself and the wise sheriff who oversaw a town of eccentrics, they weren't the same. Griffith, 86, died Tuesday at his coastal home, Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie said in a statement. Details are to be released at a later date.Raleigh | It was all too easy to confuse Andy Griffith the actor with Sheriff Andy Taylor, his most famous character from "The Andy Griffith Show."Īfter all, Griffith set his namesake show in a make-believe town based on his hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., and played his "aw, shucks" persona to such perfection that viewers easily believed the character and the man were one.

A memorial service will take place in Culver City, California. Lynn had been working on an autobiography before her death, which is now expected to be released posthumously, the museum stated. “He brought me to a sweet town, wonderful people, and just said, ‘Now, that’s for you, Betty.'” “I think God’s blessed me,” Lynn said at the time. She expressed her love for the city to The Associated Press in 2015.
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Lynn moved from Hollywood to Mount Airy in 2007 following a series of break-ins at her home. It was great to have known and worked with her. I saw her last a few years ago where she still lit up the room with her positivity. She played Thelma Lou on #TAGS & brightened every scene she was in & every shooting day she was on set. She was “thought to be the only American woman to have traveled the dangerous Burma Road during the war,” according to the museum’s statement.ĭirector and actor Ron Howard, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor’s son, Opie, paid tribute to Lynn in a tweet Sunday saying she “brightened every scene she was in & every shooting day she was on set.” Lynn took her talents overseas, performing in the USO for servicemembers during World War II. In 1944, she started performing as a part of USO Camp Shows. She reprised her role in the made-for-TV movie “Return to Mayberry,” in which Thelma Lou and Barney got married.īorn Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn on Augin Kansas City, Missouri, Lynn began studying dance and acting at a young age. Lynn appeared as Thelma Lou on the show from 1961 until 1966. Lynn moved from Hollywood to Mount Airy, Griffith’s boyhood hometown, that year. (Gerry Broome/Associated Press Archives) Lynn, left, stands next to a cutout of Barney Fife - the boyfriend of her character, Thelma Lou, on “The Andy Griffith Show” - as she reaches out to hug Charlotte Wright of Pulaski, Va., in Mount Airy, N.C., in 2007. Lynn died peacefully Saturday after a brief illness, The Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina, announced in a statement. Betty Lynn, the film and television actor who was best known for her role as Barney Fife’s sweetheart Thelma Lou on “The Andy Griffith Show,” has died.
