RIP Andy Griffith

Various news outlets reporting he has died:

https://twitter.com/myfox8/status/220156253157068800

EDIT: TMZ reporting it, too:

http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/03/andy-griffith-dies-dead/

Of course he's best known for the Andy Griffith Show and Matlock, but for my money, this is still the funniest thing he ever did:

 

Re: RIP Andy Griffith?

Local TV station is reporting that EMS were dispatched to his home but no reports on his condition. Though TMZ is usually spot on with this stuff, so I'll take their word on it. The Andy Griffith Show is still heavily syndicated in the South, and though I never got into the show, I certainly understand its appeal.

 

Cue Abe.

 

I have twice stayed at the Best Western in Mt. Airy, NC, Griffith's hometown, while on road trips.

 

Did you say hey to Goober?

 

Re: RIP Andy Griffith?

Wasn't it on heavy rotation on TBS back in the SuperStation days? One of our local affiliates shows it every Sunday night after the late news.

 

The first five seasons of The Andy Griffith Show is some of the best television work ever done. The show had one of the great ensemble casts ever assembled for a television show. So, so good. I hate to hear he's gone.

One reason the show is still going so strong in syndication, at least this is what I've heard and assume it is true, is that none of the actors or participants in the show had any royalty rights in their contracts.

 

God needed something to watch during Braves rain delays.

 

Dibs on the Fun Girls.

 

You brilliant bastard.

 

Didn't he just pack it in recently too?

 

Although it was contrary to his public image, his first starring role in a movie, A Face in the Crowd, was fascinating. Also, there's an interesting story about how he and Ron Howard went to see Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea) at her home in North Carolina in her final years. She apparently had a acrimonious split from the other actors on the show and was very reclusive. If I recall, she refused to let them in her house. Don't know if they ever reconciled. Anyway, RIP to a major personality.