What Happened to Opie's Mother & Other Andy Griffith Show…Secrets

facts first presents what happened to Opie's mother and other Andy Griffith Show secrets The Andy Griffith Show ran from October 3rd 1960 to April 1st 1968 with a total of 240 9 episodes and it was a hit today the show is still played in reruns on multiple networks and the entire series is available on DVD if you're a fan of the show you might think you know everything about it but there are a few things that even the most die-hard fans of The Andy Griffith Show don't know real-life besties on the show Andy and Barney Fife were best friends on the show what many viewers didn't know was they played such great friends on the show because they were best friends in real life both men grew up during the Great Depression in poverty and he grew up in North Carolina Don grew up in West Virginia it's something the men bonded over and became best friends no time for sergeants Andy and Don they didn't meet on the set of The Andy Griffith Show their friendship began when they were co-stars in the 1958 film adaptation of the Broadway play no time for sergeants if you've never seen it it's worth a watch it's hilarious it was where they met and they remain best friends their entire lives after that when Don died in 2006 Andy was by his bedside and he died six years later when he was 86 years old a joker on the set of The Andy Griffith Show and he loved playing practical jokes he liked to target Don Knotts most of all Don's real name by the way was Jesse and he hated his real name that's something that Andy liked to tease him about it's the opposite of their characters by the second episode Andy says Don was really funny and his character should be as well getting him back the cast decided to prank Andy back one day and they stole his shoes from his dressing room that night he had to wear his big sheriff boots home he took the joke in stride and the off-screen pranks moved on screen in the episode runaway kid Opie and his friends pranked sheriff Taylor by moving his car in front of a fire hydrant so that he would get a ticket the show is opening the opening of the show has the show's tune whistled while Andy and Opie walked together to go fishing the scene was filmed at Franklin Canyon Park which is located at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains throwing a rock when Ronnie Howard started starring as Opie he was only six years old he wasn't strong enough back then to throw a stone far enough into the lake he tried several times but he failed so the assistant director had an idea to solve the problem he had a prop guy stand behind a bush and when Ronnie pretended to throw a rock the man threw it instead if you watch the scene carefully you might even be able to catch the lag between the throw and the splash Aunt Bea had no sense of humor Francis ba VA is the actress who played aunt bee on the show she was said to not really have much of a sense of humor at all she was born into an affluent family in New York and she was very sophisticated she attended Columbus University and later the American Academy of Dramatic Arts because of all of that she didn't find the off-screen antics of her co-stars humorous Jim Nabors passing Jim Nabors played Gomer Pyle on the show and he was loved when he was 87 years old his husband Stan Cadwallader was with him at the time he'd been battling with health issues for quite some time and had a liver transplant about 20 years before he died his health began to decline shortly before he died on November 30th 2017 when his husband made a statement he said everybody knows he was a wonderful man and that's all we can say about him he's going to be dearly missed real-life lovers on the show Andy Taylor and Helen Crump became a couple on-screen it's believed though that Andy and the actress who played Helen indeed a corset were lovers in real life Andy was married at the time though so they were trying to keep things quiet the couple was outed during one of the casts many practical jokes as a prank one of the crew members dressed up as a waiter and delivered to Andy's room the crew member was shocked when he caught Andy and Anita in a compromising position this discovery was not supposed to be part of the prank Andy and his wife later divorced during his life he was married three times an apology as mentioned earlier Andy and Frances had a tense relationship during the show because she didn't approve of their off-screen antics fortunately the to patch things up before she died shortly before that Frances called Andy and apologized for being difficult during filming it meant a lot to Andy to be able to clear things up and speak to her one more time Andy's and Ronnie's favorite episodes every cast member has one episode that they considered their favorite Andy's favorite episode was in season 3 Barney's first car in the episode Barney uses his life savings to buy an old car but it ends up not working Ronnie's favorite episode was the ball game and his father Rance Howard wrote the episode throughout the series rants helped write and he even acted in five of the episodes Don's favorite episode Don Knotts his favorite episode was the pickle story and it's a fan favorite as well in the episode aunt bee he made a huge batch of pickles that were so disgusting Barney referred to them as kerosene cucumbers due to a number of hilarious events Andy and Barney had to consume 8 quarts of the nasty pickles the episode is pretty funny it's obvious the man had a great time filming it too they quit while they were ahead The Andy Griffith Show ended when it was at the top of the Nielsen ratings they've only been three shows who have ever done that in TV history I Love Lucy was the first to do it and the last episode aired May 6th 1957 The Andy Griffith Show was second which ended April 1st 1968 and then Seinfeld was the third which ended May 14th 1998 each of the shows ended on a high note and all three are still playing in reruns no contract many actors on the show arrived on the set for the first day of filming without a contract Don Knotts was one of them meant that Barney Fife could have been on the show for only one episode which would have been awful he's one of the most adored characters on the show in 1999 he was ranked ninth on the TV guides 50 greatest TV characters of all time the show's biggest mystery opiez mother and Andy's wife is one of the biggest mysteries of the show she's only mentioned in one episode it was during wedding bells for aunt bee and he gets dystonic watching @b prepare for his wedding and he tells Opie how much he loved his mother for the rest of the series viewers never hear about Opie's mother and they never show a photo of her in the Danny Thomas show which spawned the Andy Griffith Show Andy says that his wife died when Opie was just the least little speck of a baby incredible chemistry producers know that when two actors have chemistry it will totally make the show the producers were so impressed with the chemistry between Andy and Dawn they rode up contracts for both men for one year after filming the first episode later they were given a five-year contract during the second episode of the series manhunt and he realized that Don should be the comedian so Andy should play straight and let Don shine most people believe that this decision made the show the success that it was Andy's patrol car the patrol car that Andy and Barney drove on the show was a Ford Galaxie each time a new model of a Ford Galaxie came out a local dealership would donate a car for free when they did they'd take back the old car after repainting it they would sell it then since the show is so popular they probably could have made a lot of money if they'd sold the cars the way they were when they got him back throughout the show's eight seasons that were 10 different cars used the show is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company which is why most people believe the squad car was always a Ford Galaxie 500 sedan and today there are plenty of replicas out there the actors after the show when the show ended many of the actors moved on to different roles while many of them are no longer with us today they all left their marks on television forever Ron Howard Ron Howard was known as Ronnie Howard back then after playing Opie the next role that really made him a star was playing Richie on the TV show happy days today he works as a movie director over the years he's won plenty of awards for his work he won the national medal of art and was inducted into the TV Hall of Fame in 2013 finally he has not one but two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Frances ba VA after the show ended Frances remained in North Carolina she fell in love with the state so she chose not to return to New York City she lived in Siler City North Carolina and in 1972 she retired after retiring she lived a reclusive life she lived alone in her Siler City home and she barely left the house she was very private and spent most of her time in a large room in the back of the house that was barely furnished it contained a bed desk television and an end table which she stocked with her glasses and black licorice Jim Nabors after The Andy Griffith Show ended Jim Nabors continued to play Gomer Pyle and a spin-off of the show Gomer Pyle USMC the show follows Gomer after he joined the Marines Jim Nabors had a great singing voice and he recorded 28 albums throughout his career in 2013 he came out publicly as gay and he married his longtime partner of 38 years anita corset Bonita course not played Helen Crump Andy's girlfriend before she starred on the show she was studying drama at Northwestern University she dropped out of college to pursue her acting career and when the show ended she continued her education at UCLA Anita returned for two of the show's reunions the first was in return to Mayberry in 1986 and then the Andy Griffith Show reunion in 1993 she made appearances in dozens of TV shows including Gunsmoke The Runaways and man poor man in 1895 she passed away after a battle with cancer and she's buried in Hollywood pal Smith how Smith played the town drunk Otis when Otis would get drunk he'd let himself into a jail cell he'd sleep it off in the bed of the cell and then he'd let himself out of the cell in the morning after the Andy Griffith Show ended how landed many voiceover roles for TV and film he played owl and Winnie the Pooh John Avery in adventures in Odyssey and uncle Tex in the Flintstones his wife passed away in 1992 and his health deteriorated shortly after in 1994 he died of a heart attack Howard McNear Floyd was Andy's slow thinking absent-minded barber he was played by Howard McNear in 1969 just two years after he left the show because of health problems he died of a stroke decades later kurt cobain wrote a song called Floyd the barber for his band Nirvana's album bleach the story that kurt tells in the song has many residents of Mayberry murder him George Lindsey George Lindsey played Gomer piles cousin goober on the show goober was known for the goober dance and his Cary Grant impressions which were awful after the show ended he had roles in hee haw The Twilight Zone and Gunsmoke among others he was a charitable man and through his charity the George Lindsey celebrity weekend and golf tournament he raised over a million dollars throughout 17 years the proceeds went to the Alabama Special Olympics in 2012 he died at the age of 83 Don Knotts Don Knotts played Barney Fife and after the show ended he played Ralph Furley on Three's Company he also starred in many other TV shows and movies right before dawn passed away and he went to visit him in the hospital he later recalled his final words to his dear friend he said I know that he could hear me and we all believed that he could hear my voice I told him that I loved him and I told him I said Jessie breathe you got to make this you got to pull through breathe and you know I saw his chest Heath and I said battle boy keep breathing just keep breathing his shoulder moved so I believe he heard my voice Andy Griffith when the show ended Andy starred in many TV shows but none of them really took off in 1986 he landed the role of lawyer Ben Matlock and the show was titled Matlock that show was a hit his former co-star Anita corset appeared in seven episodes of the show in 1983 he became ill with guilin bear syndrome but recovered he also went through a quadruple bypass in 2000 in 2012 he died of a heart attack he's buried on Roanoke Island in North Carolina which he loved to visit subscribe for more [Music] [Music]

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Id: XlwnCs4qRhk

Length: 14min 7sec (847 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 15 2019