Acting on The Andy Griffith Show felt a lot like living in Mayberry, NC, the idyllic burg where the classic 1960 to 1968 sitcom was set. “It was warm and funny, like the show,” Ron Howard, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor’s adorable son, Opie, exclusively told Closer Weekly in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now. “I learned hard work and fun were not diametrically opposed. In fact, they could work hand in hand.”
But off camera, star Andy Griffith’s life wasn’t as bucolic. The actor endured failed marriages, allegations of alcoholism and infidelity, a debilitating disease, and the tragic death of one of his children. And he didn’t always deal with crises in the cool, calm manner of Sheriff Taylor or lawyer Ben Matlock. “He could have this explosive temper,” Daniel de Visé, author of Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, told Closer. “He punched out a car window and put his fists through the doors.”
Andy’s anger may have had its roots in his difficult childhood. Born in Mount Airy, NC in 1926, he slept in dresser drawers as a baby because his family didn’t have enough money for a crib. His father was a carpenter who eventually earned enough to buy a home, but Andy “grew up on the poor side of town,” said de Visé. Since he was an only child, his parents could afford to dress him in clean clothes, but that was held against him. “A lot of the kids were not well-dressed, and there was a perception that Andy was a mama’s boy, so he got bullied a lot,” de Visé added.
He found solace by doing theater in high school. “I was being laughed at. I hated it, so I made an adjustment to control the situation,” Andy once said. In 1949, the same year he graduated from the University of North Carolina, he married classmate Barbara Bray Edwards, and the duo hit the road with a musical-comedy act. But all was not harmonious at home. “Everybody thought Barbara was going to be the famous one,” de Visé said. After Andy found solo success in the 50s as a country bumpkin in the play and film No Time for Sergeants, “She didn’t fall so naturally into the performer’s wife role.”
The couple’s taste for booze only heightens the tension between them. “Barbara had a drinking problem, and Andy drank a lot,” de Visé shared. “He and Barbara squabbled, and Andy had other relationships.” Among Andy’s paramours were two of his Andy Griffith Show love interests: Aneta Corsaut (aka teacher Helen Crump) and Joanna Moore (future mother of Tatum O’Neal).
Andy established a different kind of bond with another co-star, Don Knotts. The pair had met when Don played a small role in No Time for Sergeants, but he became a breakout star as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. “Andy was the world’s greatest audience for Don,” reminded Ron. “Don had Andy literally in tears once a week.”
Don came from Morgantown, WV, so “they were two Southern guys with similar backgrounds, stories, and childhoods, so they were drawn to each other instantly,” de Visé said. “They could talk about things like mumblety-peg, a silly old game, and seeing preachers in tents on weekends.”
A notorious prankster, Andy would often play gags on his pal Don. “Don would be exhausted, so he’d nap on a cot in the sheriff’s office,” de Visé shared. “Andy would drop a film canister loudly onto the linoleum floor and wake Don up and just howl with laughter.” Still, when it came time to shoot a scene, Andy was all business. “He said, ‘If you do all your preparation, the rest of the day we can laugh and carry on,’” recalls Jim Nabors, whose character, Gomer Pyle, spun off into his own hit sitcom. “Oh, golly, we laughed a lot.”
