Andy Griffith

In 1981 Griffith won an Emmy nomination for his role in the TV film Murder In Texas and in 1983 won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the TV film Murder In Coweta County. Other films include Dominick and Eugene, Parenthood, Those Lips, Those Eyes, Echo Park and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Slamdance. He also starred in many television films such as Strangers In 7A (1972) and Winter Kill (1974). Murray Abraham. After his show was cancelled in 1968, Griffith had several series that were not successful such as The Headmaster (1970), The New Andy Griffith Show (1971) and Salvage I (1979). In 1984 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of Mozart in Amadeus, losing to his Amadeus co-star, F. Griffith was an inspiration for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Huckleberry Hound, introduced in 1958. His next was in the highly popular National Lampoon's Animal House.

This film showcased Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor. His first film role was in the James Dean influenced film 9/30/55 in 1977. In 1959, Griffith starred in A Face in the Crowd. Again, he played a country boy and entertainer, but this time as a terrifying psychopath who used the rube pose to rise to political power. Within a month of moving to New York City, he became the understudy for Peter Firth in the Broadway production of Equus. He was nominated for a Tony Award for A Few Good Men. By 1954, he was on Broadway, starring in No Time for Sergeants, a play about a country boy in the air force, made into a film in 1959 and considered the direct inspiration for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. He wanted to be a singer as a small child, but switched to acting when his voice changed. Later that year, he recorded "Number One Street", telling the story of a rural family travelling to Florida on United States Highway 1. Born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, he was raised in Plymouth, Michigan.

His first success was a 1953 live recording of "What it was, was football", a story about a country boy at his first football game, delighting in the "big orange drinks" and the boys running up and down the "cow pasture" in "the awfulest fight I most ever saw" and "these purty girls a-wearin' these little-bitty short dresses, and a-dancin' around". Thomas Edward Hulce (born December 6, 1953) is an American actor. Griffith started out as a stand-up comedian. Viewers immediately felt a connection with Taylor, his son "Opie" (Ron Howard), "Aunt Bee" (Frances Bavier), Deputy "Barney Fife" (Don Knotts), "Gomer Pyle" (Jim Nabors), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey) and the entire town of "Mayberry". The Andy Griffith Show, which aired from 1960 to 1968, became an instant hit with its American audience.

Griffith is best known as "Sheriff Andy Taylor" in the popular 1960s television series The Andy Griffith Show and in the title role in the 1980s television series Matlock. He was a genuine country boy who made sophisticated humor based on his own background. Andy Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, writer and producer from Mount Airy, North Carolina.