Even though Andy Griffith’s way to fame came through a pretty special way, he quickly established himself as one of the greats. And by the time he died, he had made himself a fortune people only could dream of.
Andy Griffith – early life
Andrew Griffith was born on June 1, 1926 in Mount Airy, North Carolina, a city, located on the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
While he lived in a picturesque part of the United States, Andy’s start to life was anything but a fairy tale.
When he was born, his parents had no home and his family was forced to live with friends. His mom and dad were extremely poor and Andy was forced to stay with relatives until his father could afford to buy a house.
When he was just three, his father got a job as a carpenter and could finally afford to buy a home in Mount Airy’s working district.
Andy Griffith himself was fascinated by music early on and listened to a lot of records and the radio. But he was also a shy boy, which hardly helped when he realized that he was born “on the wrong side of the tracks.”
As he got older, his classmates realized that Andy was a special person with a unique ability to make others laugh. When he started to appreciate his talent, Andy grew in confidence and slowly came out of his shell.
“I was being laughed at. I hated it, so I made an adjustment to control the situation. All comics learn that,” Andy Griffith said later on in life.
In high school, Andy continued to explore his musical and theatrical talents, attending the school’s drama program. In college he majored in music, and dreamt about living in New York City.
Griffith decided to head to New York City, auditioning for roles in both operettas and jobs in different choirs. However, he didn’t receive a single offer.
“Instead of being hurt, I just started to wonder what I could do with the rest of my life. And I went home and wrote a few jokes,” Griffith said. “That summer, I did my first long monologue, and a man named Orville Campbell came up to me and said, ‘I have a record company. Would you like to record “What it Was Was Football?‘ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ “
Andy, raised as a Baptist, loved swing, and had a great idol in a local pastor who played in a brass band. The pastor, Ed Mickey, was a supportive person who made sure that Andy was given an outlet for his talents.
In the mid-1950s, Andy got his first breakthrough as a monologist with What it Was Was Football?. The story was told from the point of view of a naive pastor who watched a game of football.
The Andy Griffith Show
When the monologue was released as a single, it climbed the charts and Andy’s path to celebrity status lay open. After a few minor TV roles, he landed a part in the series that would largely characterize Andy’s life: The Andy Griffith Show.
The TV series and the inhabitants of the fictional town named Mayberry became very famous and popular for the way they maintained the strict, moral code of the 1950s and 1960s. However, at the start of filming, Andy Griffith wasn’t sure about the show at all.
Speaking with the Television Academy, Griffith recalled how it was only him (Andy Taylor), Francis Bavier (Aunt Bee), and Ron Howard (Opie) along with Danny Thomas (Danny Williams).
Danny Thomas was there to introduce the town of Maybery and its citizens, and the show was a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show.
As Andy was the acting sheriff on screen, as well as editor of the local paper, he actually didn’t think the show was going to last for very long. At most, about two weeks – because it didn’t really have a hook.
