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. Hudson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd. He also starred in many television films such as Strangers In 7A (1972) and Winter Kill (1974). Following Hudson's death, his live-in lover Marc Christian filed a palimony lawsuit against his estate and won. 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). Hudson remained in the closet until his sexual orientation became known toward the end of his life. Griffith was an inspiration for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Huckleberry Hound, introduced in 1958. Hudson was reportedly very good friends with Jim Nabors of television's Gomer Pyle.

This film showcased Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor. The studio was likely using this sham marriage in order to cover Hudson's homosexuality, which would have made him box office poison at the time if it were made known. 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. The couple divorced in 1958. 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.. Hudson married studio employee Phyllis Gates in 1955, and the news was made known by all the major gossip magazines. Later that year, he recorded "Number One Street", telling the story of a rural family travelling to Florida on United States Highway 1. James in the popular American television series McMillan and Wife that aired on NBC.

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". From 1971 to 1978, Hudson starred opposite Susan St. Griffith started out as a stand-up comedian. Many consider his performance as the elderly New York City banker Arthur Hamilton turned young Malibu painter Tony Wilson in the 1966 science fiction film by director John Frankenheimer,Seconds, as the finest of his career. 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 two made Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers together. The Andy Griffith Show, which aired from 1960 to 1968, became an instant hit with its American audience. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hudson was known for several fluff comedies, largely starring with Doris Day.

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. In 1956 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and two years later, Look Magazine named him Star of the Year. He was a genuine country boy who made sophisticated humor based on his own background. His one line took 38 takes, because he kept forgetting it. Andy Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, writer and producer from Mount Airy, North Carolina. His good looks and strapping size got him a Hollywood audition, and some capped teeth and a name change got him a small part in the forgettable 1948 film Fighter Squadron. Hudson served in the United States Navy during World War II as an airplane mechanic.

His announcement, and subsequent death from the disease at the age of only 59, brought the disease and HIV into the mainstream of American consciousness. Born in Winnetka, Illinois, Hudson was the first major American celebrity to admit to being afflicted with AIDS. Roy Harold Scherer Jr. (November 17, 1925 - October 2, 1985), better known as Rock Hudson, was an American actor.