What Happened to ‘Otis the Drunk’ ‘The Andy Griffith Show’?

Early Life

Harold John Smith was born on August 24, 1916, in Petoskey, Michigan, though most of his early life was actually spent living in Massena, New York. He graduated from Massena High School in 1936, and was already working hard to break into show business. This is how Utah’s The Daily Herald viewed his early years in a 1970 profile: “Smith has been involved in virtually all aspects of show business except the circus. He fronted his own orchestra in the 1930s (‘Hal Smith and His Music’), was a radio actor, appeared in burlesque in Los Angeles after his discharge from the Air Force and has been a familiar figure in television and films.”

Starting His Career

Speaking of their vaudeville act, Hal told The Tennessean in 1984, “We billed ourselves as Trade & Mark. We did comedy, impressions, songs. We did all the amateur shows they had in those days till they told us to stop coming. ‘You aren’t amateurs anymore,’ they told us.”

Singing Passion

He added that he started singing with bands when he was 14, which didn’t exactly thrill his parents, but he emphasized to them how much he wanted to be in show business. “In 1936,” he explained, “I went with a band in Utica, New York with 14 men and a girl singer. The money was low, but we managed. Later I bought the music and owned the band for a year in a half. Then in 1938 I got into radio at station WIBX in Utica as a singer and ended up as an announcer and newsman. I did a little bit of everything.”

Hollywood Connections

The Yawn Patrol was the name of his WIBX show, on which he sang songs, accompanied himself on the piano — and anything else he could possibly do. A stint in the Special Services branch of the Air Force during World War II saw him providing entertainment to G.I.s across the Pacific. After his service, he stopped off briefly in New York, but, still wanting to sing, decided to move to California, where he began working for a radio station. He also started to make Hollywood connections.

Supporting Roles

In 1946 he had a small role in the film Stars Over Texas, followed by another 17 roles throughout the 1950s, most of which were uncredited — though he was thrilled to be getting the work anyway. Other films included Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1951), Francis Covers the Big Town (1953), Walking My Baby Back Home (1953), There’s Always Tomorrow (1955) and Hot Car Girl (1958). “I just wanted to be a supporting actor,” said Hal, “and it’s been wonderful for me.”

Getting a Show

The big change came as he was working on a Glendale, California radio station when a friend named Tom Harmon asked him to be the announcer on his TV show, Here Comes Harmon. “He called me up and said, ‘Hey, Little Fat Man, I’ve got a show. Come on over. I want you to do this,’” the actor recalled.

Television Debut

His TV debut was in the The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, where, between 1953 and 1963, he appeared in 27 episodes, but never in the same role twice (which says a lot about his acting abilities). He guest-starred on Death Valley Days, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, four episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel; Bonanza, three episodes of Gunsmoke and Perry Mason. On top of that, all of that work in radio really began paying off as he was given the opportunity to provide his voice to bring animated characters to life on The Huckleberry Hound Show, Quick Draw McGraw, The Bugs Bunny Show, The Flintstones, The Yogi Bear Show, The Jetsons, The Magilla Gorilla Show and many more.

Sitcom Star

There were some regular gigs as well. In 1960 he appeared in a number of episodes of the sitcom The Ruggles as Mr. Melcher, 10 episodes of I Married Joan as Charlie Henderson, six episodes of the Western Jefferson Drum as Hickey, the 1962 drama series Saints and Sinners as Arnie Melk and 1965’s Valentine’s Day as Louie Calberry.

Recognizable Voice

Author and journalist Lawrence P. Gooley, who wrote a wonderful profile of Hal Smith that explores much of his early life in an unprecedented way, points out, “Despite the fact that he had been in show business all his life and performed nearly nonstop since leaving high school, Hal’s next quarter-century of life alone would have constituted an excellent career for any actor. While still voicing parts in many famous cartoons that he had begun doing in the 1960s, there were many new roles in series and specials during the ’70s, ’80s and into the ’90s.”

‘Winnie the Pooh’

“Besides playing Disney’s Goofy for 25 years, he was on Garfield, Casper, Popeye, Richie Rich, The Smurfs and spent 17 years working on Winnie the Pooh, portraying Owl and often covering Winnie as well,” he adds. “Along with numerous other voices, he appeared in shows like The Odd Couple, Little House on the Prairie, Fantasy Island, The Brady Bunch, Highway to Heaven, Sesame Street, Hollywood Squares and The Streets of San Francisco.”

Commercials

“He also did commercials for hundreds of products,” Lawrence continues. “Bell Telephone, Chicken of the Sea, General Mills, Green Giant, Hickory Farms, Ivory Soap, Mattel, Pizza Hut and Toyota are just a few of the companies he provided with voices or on-screen characters. But in the eyes of the public, his greatest claim to fame was portraying Otis Campbell.”

Famous Role

Hal was featured in a 1964 profile in the Tampa Bay Times, in which the writer pointed out, “Smith explained that Otis is a picked on kind of a guy who is not understood by his wife, hence he hits the bottle. The Mrs. doesn’t allow Otis around the house when he’s sozzled, so the jail became his second home. And, like other offbeat roles, playing a drunk causes a slight problem for Hal. ‘My boy goes to a private school and when I take him there, the other kids give me funny looks. I don’t know if they think I’m an actor or a drunk. I’m sure my boy knows this is show business,’ Smith said.”

Pride

It was Hal’s feeling that he played Otis as a town drunk with dignity. “It’s the best kind of drunk a man can be,” he proposed. “It pays well and you never get a hangover. I do a show on the average of once every three weeks and I think that’s good. The town drunk could get obnoxious.”  Apparently there were, however, some problems that came up over his association with the role.

‘The Andy Griffith Show’

Allan Newsome, host of the Two Chairs, No Waiting podcast devoted to all things Mayberry, did an episode devoted to Hal Smith, at one point explaining that Hal “was not a drinker. He might have a drink in social situations of some type, but he was not a drinker. Almost a teetotaler. I just wanted to mention that, because one of the stories I’m fixing to tell you about is actually related to that. There was a great book published called More Than Otis, No Bull!, A Salute to Hollywood Actor Hal J. Smith. It’s written by John Mashad III. It’s got some nice articles in here and I wanted to read just a little bit out of one of them. It’s called ‘The Price of Fame,’ where he had talked to Hal Smith and got this information.”

Hollywood Success

Continues Allan, “Becoming a success in Hollywood can be a blessing or a curse to personalities portraying characters. After Hal appeared in The Andy Griffith Show as lovable Otis Campbell, he discovered a world of typecasting and was sometimes irritated by people criticizing his character. ‘I was in a hardware store one time and my son Terry was there with me,’ he said. ‘There was a guy looking through some nuts and bolts and stuff and he looked up at me and said, ‘Oh, you’re the guy from The Andy Griffith Show. I hate you.’ Hal said to him, ‘Wait a minute, what do you mean?’ He explained to Hal that his brother became an alcoholic after seeing Otis drunk on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. ‘You caused my brother to drink. He saw you drinking and he wanted to do it, because of you.’”

Separating Himself From the Character

“Hal defended himself. He pointed out that Otis had never been filmed drinking out of a bottle of alcohol. ‘I never had been seen drinking on camera. I sometimes held a bottle. The only time I ever drank anything was when they made me a sobering drink.’ Throughout the run of The Andy Griffith Show Smith was plagued with restaurant bartenders and fans offering him free alcoholic drinks and he always turned them down. ‘Strangers came up to me and asked me if I was sober. Others were surprised to see me walking the street,’ said Hal in a 1991 interview. ‘They sometimes thought I was a real drunk. I don’t recall the last time I had a drink.’ The character also affected the life of his only son, Terry. They used to call him ‘Little Otis’ at Brentwood Academy. ‘He never really liked that. When I took him to school, the other kids gave me funny looks. I didn’t know if they thought I was an actor or a drunk,’ said Hal Smith. ‘Finally, one day a kid asked Terry, ‘Is your dad Otis? If he a method actor?’ Terry replied, ‘Yes, he practices every Saturday night.’”

Gaining Fans

There was definitely an upside to his recognition, as Lawrence chronicled in his profile piece. In 1964, plans were pulled together to pay tribute to the man from Massena in the form of “Hal Smith Day.” He describes, “Virtually every business and every family in town became involved in the planning, with such crowds expected that tickets and reservations for many events were in hot demand. Included in the festivities were a group breakfast, lunch, and dinner; a royal welcome that featured a crown made of (what else?) aluminum from the local plant; a visit to the hospital, where he entertained patients; an autograph session at a vacant store transformed by area merchants into a replica of the Mayberry jail; all-day limousine service; band music at several venues; the theater playing movies that Hal appeared in, and autographs for each attendee; a reunion with old schoolmates; induction as a member of the St. Regis Indians; and at the Highland Hotel that night, Hal appeared in the floor show.

“It was without a doubt one of the greatest days of his life. For a man who earned a wonderful living with his voice, he was left nearly speechless when several dignitaries and old friends spoke his praises early in the day. Deeply moved, he replied, ‘All that I can say is

Popularity

Allan points out that by the 1980s Hal had learned to accept the popularity of Otis. “He started attending Mayberry reunions,” he says, “did national Mothers Against Drunk Driving commercials, charity shows and signed autographs. Hal said, ‘It took some time for me to get away from playing a lot of drunk roles. I was paid good for them. People today love the character and the show. It’s unbelievable. They come up to you and they want to hug you. I enjoy making people happy as Otis.’”

He was given the opportunity to reprise the character in the 1986 TV movie Return to Mayberry, only at that point Otis had cleaned up his act and was driving an ice cream truck.

Later Years

Through the years Hal continued to voice a wide variety of characters, though in 1987 he got back into radio dramas, recording episodes of the long-running Adventures in Odyssey, an evangelical Christian radio eries that he was a part of until 1994 and the time of his death.

In his private life, he was married to Louise C. Smith from 1936 until her death in 1992, and they had one child, Terry. Following Louise’s death, Hal began developing health problems. He died at the age of 77 on January 28, 1994 of a heart attack.

Legacy

Hal may be gone, but he will certainly live on at least as long as The Andy Griffith Show does, being an important part of it no matter how few episodes he actually appeared in. Muses Daniel, “Broadly speaking, Otis the drunk was one of several comedic characters orbiting around Andy, the nominal straight man. But Otis also served a more specific purpose. Here’s something I wrote in Andy & Don: ‘Hal was more than a running gag. His very presence in the jail — and his ready access to the keys — reminded viewers of Mayberry’s essential benevolence.’ Just like Barney having the one bullet that he wasn’t supposed to actually use, and Aunt Bee showing up at lunchtime with a picnic basket full of food. In the end, I think Otis was a strong enough character to become something of an archetype, like Floyd the bumbling barber and Gomer the oafish mechanic.”

Enthused Hal later in life, “It was a great role. I loved every minute of it.”