For many, the “Andy Griffith Show” was a loveable escape into the friendship between a small-town sheriff and his deputy.
In real life, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts continued their friendship long after the end of the series.
Both actors were from a world that was a far cry from the quaint town of Mayberry. Griffith and Knotts grew up in the South and struggled through the Great Depression before making their way to the Broadway stage, where they finally met in the 1950s. The two formed a relationship that lasted until Knotts passed away in 2006.
In Daniel de Visé ’s book, “Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show,” de Visé explores what the duo’s on-screen friendship meant to viewers and what their bond off-screen was like, including how they dealt with fame and personal struggles.
As Knotts’ brother-in-law, de Visé gives readers an inside look into the world of Mayberry and previously unpublished interviews with those that were closest to Griffith and Knotts. Today de Visé talks with Larry Mantle about the men behind one of America’s favorite television duos.
Andy Griffith and Don Knotts met on Broadway in the 1950s. When Andy went to Hollywood to film a TV pilot about a small-town sheriff, Don called to ask if the sheriff could use a deputy. The comedic synergy between Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife ignited The Andy Griffith Show, elevating a folksy sitcom into a timeless study of human friendship, as potent off the screen as on. Andy and Don—fellow Southerners born into poverty and raised among scofflaws, bullies, and drunks—captured the hearts of Americans across the country as they rocked lazily on the front porch, meditating about the simple pleasure of a bottle of pop.
