Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer, and writer whose musical and television career spanned seven decades. Griffith was a Tony Award nominee for two roles and was known for his Southern drawl, characters with a folksy-friendly personality, and his gruff but friendly voice. He rose to prominence in director Elia Kazan’s films A Face in the Crowd (1957) and No Time for Sergeants (1958), before becoming better known for his television roles, including Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) and Ben Matlock in the legal drama Matlock (1986–1995). Griffith began his career as a monologist, telling long stories like What It Was, Was Football, which is told from the perspective of a naive country preacher trying to figure out what was going on in a football game. Griffith’s monologue was released as a single on the Colonial Records label in 1953 and was a hit for him, reaching number nine on the charts in 1954.
Griffith appeared on The United States Steel Hour, a television anthology series, in Ira Levin’s one-hour teleplay No Time for Sergeants (March 1955), a story about a country boy in the United States Air Force. He expanded on that role in Ira Levin’s full-length theatrical version of the same name, which premiered on Broadway in New York City in October 1955. He was nominated for “Distinguished Supporting or Featured Dramatic Actor” at the 1956 Tony Awards but lost to Ed Begley. He did, however, receive the 1956 Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut. In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, “Mr. Griffith does not have to condescend to Will Stockdale” (his role in the play). “All he has to do is walk onto the stage and stare the audience down. If the military can’t handle Will Stockdale, the audience can’t handle Andy Griffith.” Griffith later reprised his role in the 1958 film adaptation of No Time for Sergeants, which also starred Don Knotts as a corporal in charge of manual dexterity tests, kicking off a lifelong friendship between Griffith and Knotts. The later television situation comedy Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. – a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show – is said to have been inspired directly by No Time for Sergeants.
Did Andy Griffith get along with Clarence Gilyard?
From 1989 to 1993, Gilyard portrayed Ben Matlock’s private investigator, Conrad McMasters, on Matlock, alongside Andy Griffith. He took over for Kene Holliday, who was fired due to his drug and alcohol addiction. Gilyard appeared in almost every episode of Matlock beginning in season three. When the show was transferred from NBC to ABC for the seventh season, production was relocated from Los Angeles to Wilmington, North Carolina. Andy Griffith encouraged Gilyard to relocate there as well, which he did before leaving to work on a pilot for another CBS series the following year.
