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A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or peculiarities". The earliest example of character actor cited by the OED derives from the 9 November 1883 edition of The Stage, which defined the term as "one who portrays individualities and eccentricities, as opposed to the legitimate actor who [...] endeavours to create the rôle as limned by the author".^[1]

Career paths[link]

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There are many reasons people might become character actors. Actors may also simply seem better suited to character roles than to leading roles. While any film has a handful of leading roles, it may also require dozens of smaller supporting roles, and there are arguably more opportunities for professional success as a character actor than as a movie star. Although some actors become character actors by choice, others find character work because they are seen as typecast (strongly identified with, or only suitable for certain types of roles), often due to an early success with a particular role or genre. J. T. Walsh and Dennis Hopper made a career of playing villainous characters and Steve Buscemi has made a career of playing scheming deadbeats and offbeat villains. Some actors may become character actors because casting agents believe they lack some of the physical attributes usually associated with movie stars: they may be regarded as too tall, too short, unattractive, overweight, or somehow lacking an ephemeral "star quality".

Some actors may have a perceived over-the-top style or presence that overwhelms or threatens to upstage other actors, which means that directors often choose to limit their screentime, in effect giving more power and value to their performance. An example of strong screen presence is Peter Greene, an actor with a unique look. Some other well known examples include Christopher Lee due to his physical presence and distinctive voice and Malcolm McDowell due to certain idiosyncrasies associated with his style dating back to A Clockwork Orange. Actors may be deemed too old or too young for leading roles. Actors from outside of the U.S. may be famous in their own countries, but find their roles limited in the U.S. for various reasons (see Marcel Dalio, Cantinflas and Jet Li).

Some character actors have distinctive voices or accents which limit their roles. Actors such as James Earl Jones, Tim Curry, Gilbert Gottfried, Selma Diamond and Julie Kavner have been able to turn this to their advantage, often in voice-over work. Sometimes character actors have developed careers because of specific talents that are required in genre films, such as dancing, horsemanship or swimming ability. The stars of movies that fail badly at the box office are often considered part of the reason they failed, and they may have trouble finding work later. Character actors are almost never blamed for these failures, and can continue to find work relatively easily.

See also[link]

• stock character
• commedia dell'arte

Further reading[link]

• Quinlan, David (1985). Quinlan's Illustrated Directory of Film Character Actors. Great Britain: The Bath Press. ISBN 0-87000-412-3. 
• Voisin, Scott (2009). Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-342-5. 

References[link]

Sissy Spacek
Spacek at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August 2011
Born	Mary Elizabeth Spacek (1949-12-25) December 25, 1949 (age 62) Quitman, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	Jack Fisk (1974–present; 2 children)

Sissy Spacek (born Mary Elizabeth Spacek; December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie (based on the first novel by Stephen King) for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as country star Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter. She has been nominated for an Oscar a total of six times, and is also known for her role as Holly Sargis in Terrence Malick's 1973 film Badlands.

Spacek is mainly a dramatic actress, but also has made comedies. The films that Spacek has starred in have earned more than $1 billion worldwide.^[1]

Early life[link]

Spacek was born on Christmas Day, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. She is the daughter of Virginia Frances (née Spilman) and Edwin Arnold Spacek, Sr., a county agricultural agent.^[2] Spacek's paternal grandparents, Mary Červenka and Arnold A. Špaček (who served as Mayor of Granger, Texas in Williamson County), were of Czech (Moravian) and German ancestry.^[3][4] Her mother, of English and Irish descent, was from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.^[5]

Spacek was greatly affected by the death of her eighteen-year old brother, Robbie, in 1967, which she has called "the defining event of my whole life."^[6] After she graduated from high school she moved to New York City, hoping to become a singer. There, she lived with her first cousin, actor Rip Torn, and his wife, actress Geraldine Page.^[5]

Career[link]

Early work in New York City[link]

For a while, Spacek sang and played guitar in many of the Greenwich Village coffeehouses, eventually landing some paying work singing commercial jingles. In late 1968, under the pseudonym of "Rainbo", Spacek recorded a novelty song titled '"John, You've Gone Too Far This Time";^[5] the song proclaimed her disillusionment and shock over John Lennon, who on the cover of his newest album Two Virgins appeared in full-frontal nudity with his then-girlfriend Yoko Ono, shocking many fans.^[7] The single did not appear on the record charts and failed to sell well, so she was dropped by the record company.^{[citation needed]}

1970s and beginning of acting career[link]

While singing, Spacek also worked for a time as photographic model, and worked as an extra at Andy Warhol's Factory, appearing in a non-credited role in his 1970 film Trash. With the help of Rip Torn, she was enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. Her first credited role was in the 1972 cult classic Prime Cut, in which she played Poppy, a girl sold into sexual slavery.^[5] The role led to television work, which included a guest role in The Waltons, which she played twice in 1973. Spacek received international attention after starring in Terrence Malick's 1973 Badlands, in which she played Holly, the narrator of the film and 15-year old girlfriend of mass-murderer Kit (Martin Sheen).^[5] Spacek has described Badlands as the "most incredible" experience of her career.^[8] On the set of Badlands, Spacek met art director Jack Fisk, whom she married.

Spacek's iconic and career-defining role came in 1976 with Brian De Palma's Carrie, in which she played Carietta "Carrie" White, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers.^[5] Spacek had to work hard to persuade director de Palma to engage her for the role,^[5] set as he was on an alternative actress, whose identity, to this day, remains shrouded in mystery.^{[citation needed]} Rubbing Vaseline into her hair, and donning an old sailor dress her mother made for her as a child, Spacek turned up at the audition with the odds against her, but won the part.^[9] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the film^[5] (Veteran actress Piper Laurie, who played Carrie's religious, maniacal mother Margaret White, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress). Spacek had previously been the set dresser for DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise.

After Carrie, Spacek played the small role of housekeeper Linda Murray in Alan Rudolph's ensemble piece Welcome to LA (1976), and cemented her reputation in independent cinema with her performance as Pinky Rose in Robert Altman's 1977 classic 3 Women. Altman was deeply impressed by her performance, having stated: 'She's remarkable, one of the top actresses I've ever worked with. Her resources are like a deep well.' Brian de Palma added: '[Spacek is] a phantom. She has this mysterious way of slipping into a part, letting it take over her. She's got a wider range than any young actress I know.'^[10] Spacek also helped finance then-brother-in-law David Lynch's directorial debut, Eraserhead (1976) and is thanked in the credits of the film.

In the 1979 film Heart Beat, Spacek played Carolyn Cassady, who slipped (under the influence of John Heard's Jack Kerouac and Nick Nolte's Neal Cassady) into a combination of drudgery and debauchery.

1980s and Oscar win[link]

Spacek began the 1980s with an Oscar in 1980 for Coal Miner's Daughter, in which she played country music star Loretta Lynn, who selected her for the role.^[5] In the film, both she and Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline, performed their own singing.^[5] Film critic Roger Ebert has credited the movie's success "to the performance by Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. With the same sort of magical chemistry she's shown before, when she played the high school kid in Carrie, Spacek at 29 has the ability to appear to be almost any age on screen. Here, she ages from about 14 to somewhere in her 30s, always looks the age, and never seems to be wearing makeup."^[11] Spacek also was nominated for a Grammy Award for her singing on the film's soundtrack album. She followed this with her own country album, Hangin' Up My Heart, in 1983; the album spawned one hit single, "Lonely But Only For You", a song written by K. T. Oslin, which reached #15 on the Billboard Country chart.

Also in the 1980s, Spacek starred alongside Jack Lemmon in Constantin Costa-Gavras's 1982 political thriller Missing (which was based on the book The Execution of Charles Horman), appeared with Mel Gibson in the rural drama The River (1984), and with Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange in 1986's Crimes of the Heart.^[5] She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for all of these roles.^[5] Other performances of the decade included star turns in husband Jack Fisk's directorial debut Raggedy Man (1981) and alongside Anne Bancroft in the suicide-themed drama Night Mother (1986).^[5] Spacek also showed her lighter side by voicing the brain in the Steve Martin comedy The Man with Two Brains (1983).

1990s - 2000s[link]

The 1990s saw Spacek slowly come back to Hollywood after her self-imposed hiatus. She had a supporting role as Jim Garrison's wife (played by Kevin Costner) in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), and made a number of comedies, TV movies and the occasional film. Most notable of her appearances during these years was her turn as the evil Verena Talbo in the 1995 ensemble piece The Grass Harp, which reunited her with both Laurie and Lemmon, as well as a supporting performance, again alongside Nick Nolte, as the waitress Margie Fogg in Paul Schrader's father-son psychodrama Affliction (1997). She also played Rose Straight in David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999).

Jack Fisk, Schuyler Fisk, and Madison Fisk at a ceremony for Spacek to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August 2011

In 2001, she was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work in Todd Field's In the Bedroom.^[5] New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said of her work in the film: "Ms. Spacek's performance is as devastating as it is unflashy. With the slight tightening of her neck muscles and a downward twitch of her mouth, she conveys her character's relentlessness, then balances it with enough sweetness to make Ruth seem entirely human. It is one of Ms. Spacek's greatest performances."^[12] Her performance as Ruth Fowler, a grieving mother consumed by revenge, won extraordinary praise and garnered the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.^{[citation needed]}

Other performances of this decade include unfaithful wife Ruth in Rodrigo García's Nine Lives (2005) and a turn as a woman suffering from Alzheimer's in the television movie Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007). In 2008, Spacek had a supporting part in the Christmas comedy Four Christmases and a lead role in the independent drama, Lake City. Spacek appeared on the HBO drama Big Love, for a multi-episode arc, as a powerful Washington, D.C. lobbyist.^[13]

In 2006, she narrated the audiobook of the classic 1960 Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird and it sold over 30 million copies. In 2011, she received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.^[14]

In 2012, Spacek published a memoir, "My Extraordinary Ordinary Life", written along with Maryanne Vollers.^[15][16]

Personal life[link]

Spacek married production designer and art director Jack Fisk in 1974, after meeting on the set of Badlands.^[5] Fisk later directed her in the films Raggedy Man and Violets Are Blue. They have two daughters, Schuyler Fisk (born July 8, 1982) and Madison Fisk (born September 21, 1988).^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sissy Spacek

External links[link]

• Sissy Spacek at the Internet Movie Database
• Sissy Spacek at Yahoo! Movies

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2010)

Akim Tamiroff
from the trailer for Fiesta (1947).
Born	(1899-10-29)October 29, 1899 Tiflis, Georgia, Russian Empire
Died	September 17, 1972(1972-09-17) (aged 72) Palm Springs, California
Years active	1932–1972
Spouse	Tamara Shayne (1932-1972; his death)

Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff (Russian: Аким Михайлович Тамиров; 29 October 1899 – 17 September 1972) was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire (now Tbilisi, Georgia), of Armenian ancestry.^[1] He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors and decided to stay.^[2][3] Tamiroff managed to develop a career in Hollywood despite his thick Russian accent.

Tamiroff's film debut came in 1932 in an uncredited role in Okay, America!. He performed in several more uncredited roles until 1935, when he co-starred in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. The following year, he was cast in the title role in The General Died at Dawn, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He appeared in the 1937 musical High, Wide, and Handsome and the 1938 proto-noir Dangerous to Know opposite Anna May Wong, frequently singled out as his best role.

In the following decade, he appeared in such films as The Buccaneer (1938), The Great McGinty (1940), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Tortilla Flat (1942), Five Graves to Cairo (1943), His Butler's Sister (1943), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), for which he received another Oscar nomination, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). In later years, Tamiroff appeared in Ocean's 11 (1960), Topkapi (1964), Alphaville (1965) and had a long collaboration with Orson Welles including Touch of Evil (1958), Mr Arkadin (1955), The Trial (1962) and Welles' unfinished version of Don Quixote, in which he played Sancho Panza.

While Tamiroff may not be a household name now, his malapropistic performance as the boss in The Great McGinty inspired the cartoon character Boris Badenov, the male half of the villainous husband-and-wife team Boris and Natasha on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. He was also spoofed in a 1969 episode of the TV show H.R. Pufnstuf entitled "The Stand-in" in which a frog named "Akim Toadanoff" directs a movie on Living Island.

Tamiroff died on September 17, 1972 from cancer. He was mentioned in J. D. Salinger's "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" (1942 New Yorker) He is also mentioned in The Moviegoer , Walker Percy's novel of 1961.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Akim Tamiroff

• Akim Tamiroff at the Internet Movie Database
• Akim Tamiroff at WFMU
• Akim Tamiroff at the TCM Movie Database
• Akim Tamiroff at the Internet Broadway Database
• Akim Tamiroff at Katz's Film Encyclopedia
• Akim Tamiroff at Great Character Actors
• Akim Tamiroff at Find a Grave

Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor.

Ben-Victor was born Paul Friedman, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Leah Kornfeld, a playwright, and Victor Friedman. Ben-Victor debuted on the small screen in 1987 in the made-for-TV movie Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife and on an episode of Cagney & Lacey. Fifteen years after beginning his television career with bit parts, Ben-Victor found himself cast in important roles on HBO dramas The Wire and Entourage, as well as making a 2006 appearance as Coach Lou on My Name is Earl. He portrayed Moe Howard in the 2000 made-for-TV film The Three Stooges.

Ben-Victor has been featured on many television cop dramas like Monk and CSI, and also had a recurring role as two-bit con man Steve Richards on three episodes of NYPD Blue from 1994 to 1997.

Ben-Victor has co-written stage plays with his mother. At least two of their plays have been staged in the Manhattan area, including "Club Soda" and "The Good Steno".

Ben-Victor had a starring role in the Sci-Fi channel television show, The Invisible Man, alongside Vincent Ventresca. The two later guest starred together on the hit TV show Las Vegas. They were reunited again on an episode of the new USA Network series In Plain Sight (Episode 1.2, "Hoosier Daddy"), on which Ben-Victor has a supporting role.

Appeared on Everybody Hates Chris as Mr. Thurman.

In 2008, Ben-Victor held a supporting role in the feature film, Clear Lake, WI,^[1] starring Michael Madsen.

In August 2008, Ben-Victor co-starred in Coma, a web series on Crackle.^[2]

Filmography[link]

• Should've Been Romeo (2010 film)
• The Rookie (1990)
• Cool World (1992)
• Tombstone (1993)
• True Romance (1993)
• The X-Files (1994) (TV series)
• Bushwhacked (1995) (uncredited)
• Houseguest (1995)
• A Civil Action (1998)
• Point Blank (1998)
• The Corruptor (1999)
• The Invisible Man (2000) (TV series)
• The Three Stooges (2000) (TV)
• Drowning Mona (2000)
• Daredevil (2003)
• The Wire (2002) (TV series) (2003–2008) as Spiros Vondas
• Monk (2005) (TV series)
• Entourage (2005–2008) (TV series)
• Randy and The Mob (2006)
• The Shield (2006) (TV series)
• My Name Is Earl (2006) (TV series)
• All the King's Men (2006)
• John from Cincinnati (2007) (TV series)
• In Plain Sight (2008–2012) (TV series)
• Clear Lake, WI (2009)
• Everybody Hates Chris (2009) (TV series)
• The Mentalist (2010) (TV series)
• Childrens Hospital (2011) (TV series)

References[link]

1. ^ Clear Lake, WI Film - Internet Movie Database "IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1164090/ Clear Lake, WI Film - Internet Movie Database. 
2. ^ "Michael Madsen, George Hamilton and Paul Ben-Victor Star in Coma, an Original Web Series Premiering On Crackle.com". 2008-08-22. http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=73148. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 

External links[link]

• Paul Ben-Victor at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Ben-Victor at AllRovi
• Official Site

This article about a United States film and television actor or actress born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Born	Andy Samuel Griffith (1926-06-01) June 1, 1926 (age 86) Mount Airy, North Carolina, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Mount Airy High School
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director, producer, singer (country, bluegrass & southern gospel), writer
Years active	1949–present
Notable work(s)	The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock
Political party	Democrat
Religion	Christian (Baptist/Moravian Church)
Spouse	Barbara Bray Edwards (m. 1949–72) (divorced) Solica Cassuto (m. 1975–81) (divorced) Cindi Knight (1983–present)

Andy Samuel Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer.^[1] He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film, A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead characters in the 1960–68 situation comedy, The Andy Griffith Show, and in the 1986–95 legal drama, Matlock. Griffith was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President George W. Bush on November 9, 2005.

Early life and education[link]

Griffith was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the only child of Geneva (née Nunn) and Carl Lee Griffith.^[2] At a very young age, Griffith had to live with relatives until his parents could afford to get a home of their own. Without a crib or a bed, he slept in drawers for a few months. In 1929, when Griffith was three years old, his father took a job working as a carpenter and was finally able to purchase a home in Mount Airy's "blue-collar" southside.

Like his mother, Griffith grew up listening to music. His father instilled a sense of humor from old family stories. By the time he entered school he was well aware that he was from what many considered the "wrong side of the tracks". He was a shy student, but once he found a way to make his peers laugh, he began to come out of his shell and come into his own.

As a student at Mount Airy High School, Griffith cultivated an interest in the arts, and he participated in the school's drama program. A growing love of music, particularly swing, would change his life. Griffith was raised Baptist^[3] and looked up to Ed Mickey, a minister at Grace Moravian Church, who led the brass band and taught him to sing and play the trombone. Mickey nurtured Griffith's talent throughout high school until graduation in 1944. Griffith was delighted when he was offered a role in The Lost Colony, a play still performed today on Roanoke Island. He performed as a cast member of the play for several years, playing a variety of roles, until he finally landed the role of Sir Walter Raleigh, the namesake of North Carolina's capital.

He began college studying to be a Moravian preacher, but he changed his major to music and became a part of the school's Carolina Play Makers. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated with a bachelor of music degree in 1949. At UNC he was president of the UNC Men's Glee Club and a member of the Alpha Rho Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, America's oldest fraternity for men in music.^{[citation needed]} He also played roles in several student operettas, including The Chimes of Normandy (1946), and Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers (1945), The Mikado (1948) and H.M.S. Pinafore (1949).^[4]

After graduation, he taught English for a few years at Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he taught, among others, Carl Kasell.^[5] He also began to write.

Career[link]

From rising comedian to film star[link]

Griffith's early career was as a monologist, delivering long stories such as What it Was, Was Football, which is told from the point of view of a rural backwoodsman trying to figure out what was going on in a football game.^[6] Released as a single in 1953 on the Colonial label, the monologue was a hit for Griffith, reaching number nine on the charts in 1954.^[7]

Griffith starred in a one-hour teleplay version of No Time for Sergeants (March 1955)—a story about a country boy in the US Air Force—on The United States Steel Hour, a television anthology series. He expanded that role in a full-length theatrical version of the same name (October 1955) on Broadway in New York City, New York.^[8] His Broadway career also included the title role in the 1957 musical, Destry Rides Again, co-starring Delores Gray. The show, with a score by Harold Rome, ran for more than a year.

Griffith later reprised his role for the film version (1958) of No Time for Sergeants; the film also featured Don Knotts, as a corporal in charge of manual-dexterity tests, marking the beginning of a life-long association between Griffith and Knotts. No Time for Sergeants is considered the direct inspiration for the later television situation comedy Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.^[9]

He also portrayed a US Coast Guard sailor in the feature film Onionhead (1958); it was neither a critical nor a commercial success.

[edit] Dramatic role in A Face in the Crowd (1957)

In 1957 Griffith made his film début, starring in the film A Face in the Crowd. Although he plays a "country boy", this country boy is manipulative and power-hungry, a drifter who becomes a television host and uses his show as a gateway to political power. Co-starring Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, Tony Franciosa, and Lee Remick (in her film début as well), this now-classic film, directed by Elia Kazan, showcases Griffith's powerful talents. Written by Budd Schulberg, and partly based on the on-stage phoniness of Arthur Godfrey, the film demonstrated, quite early on, the power that television can have upon the masses. This prescient film was seldom run on television until the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

A 2005 DVD reissue of A Face in the Crowd includes a mini-documentary on the film, with comments from Schulberg and surviving cast members Griffith, Franciosa, and Neal. In his interview, Griffith, revered for his wholesome image for decades, reveals a more complex side of himself. He recalls Kazan prepping him to shoot his first scene with Remick's teenaged baton twirler, who captivates Griffith's character on a trip to Arkansas. Griffith also expresses his belief that the film was far more popular and respected in more recent decades than it was when originally released.

Television roles[link]

Early television roles[link]

Publicity photo of Griffith for his No Time for Sergeants television appearance.

Griffith's first appearance on television had been in 1955 in the one-hour teleplay of No Time for Sergeants on The United States Steel Hour. That was the first of two appearances on that series.

In 1960, Griffith appeared as a county sheriff (who was also a justice of the peace and the editor of the local newspaper) in an episode of Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas. This episode, in which Thomas' character is stopped for speeding in a little town, served as a backdoor pilot for The Andy Griffith Show. Both shows were produced by Sheldon Leonard.

[edit] The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968)

Beginning in 1960, Griffith starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show for the CBS television network. The show took place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, where Taylor, a widower, was the sheriff and town sage. The show was filmed at Desilu Studios, with exteriors filmed at Forty Acres in Culver City, CA.

From 1960 to 1965, the show co-starred character actor and comedian—and Griffith's longtime friend—Don Knotts in the role of Deputy Barney Fife, Taylor's best friend and partner. He was also Taylor's cousin in the show. In the series première episode, in a conversation between the two, Fife calls Taylor "Cousin Andy", and Taylor calls Fife "Cousin Barney". The show also starred child actor Ron Howard (then known as Ronny Howard), who played Taylor's only child, Opie Taylor.

Andy lends a hand when Barney gets his gun stuck on his finger.

It was an immediate hit. Although Griffith never received a writing credit for the show, he worked on the development of every script. While Knotts was frequently lauded and won multiple Emmy Awards for his comedic performances (as did Frances Bavier in 1967), Griffith was never nominated for an Emmy Award during the show's run.

In 1967, Griffith was under contract with CBS to do one more season of the show. However, he decided to quit the show to pursue a movie career and other projects. The series continued as Mayberry R.F.D., with Ken Berry starring as a widower farmer and many of the regular characters recurring, some regularly and some as guest appearances. Griffith served as executive producer (according to Griffith, he came in once a week to review the week's scripts and give input) and guest starred in five episodes (the pilot episode involved his marriage to Helen Crump).^[10] He made final appearances as Taylor in the 1986 reunion television film, Return to Mayberry, and in two reunion specials in 1993 and 2003.

[edit] Matlock (1986–1995)

After leaving his still-popular show in 1968, and starting his own production company (Andy Griffith Enterprises) in 1972, Griffith starred in less-successful television series such as Headmaster (1970), The New Andy Griffith Show (1971), Adams of Eagle Lake (1975) Salvage 1 (1979), and The Yeagers (1980).

After spending time in rehabilitation for leg paralysis from Guillain–Barré syndrome in 1986, Griffith returned to television as the title character, Ben Matlock, in the legal drama Matlock (1986–1995) on NBC and ABC. Matlock was a country lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, who was known for his Southern drawl and for always winning his cases. Matlock also starred unfamiliar actors (both of whom were childhood fans of Andy Griffith) Nancy Stafford as Michelle Thomas (1987–1992) and Clarence Gilyard Jr. as Conrad McMasters (1989–1993). By the end of its first season it was a ratings powerhouse on Tuesday nights. Although the show was nominated for four Emmy Awards, Griffith once again was never nominated. He did, however, win a People's Choice Award in 1987 for his work as Matlock.

During the series' sixth season, he served as unofficial director, executive producer and writer of the show.

This show is mentioned on TV's longest animated show The Simpsons and is noted as Grandpa Simpson's favorite show as well as Marge Simpson's mother Jacqueline Bouvier's as well.

Other television appearances[link]

Griffith has also made other character appearances through the years on Playhouse 90, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Mod Squad, Hawaii Five-O, The Doris Day Show, Here's Lucy, The Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, among many others. He also reprised his role as Ben Matlock on Diagnosis: Murder in 1997, and his most recent guest-starring role was in 2001 in an episode of Dawson's Creek.

Films (including television films)[link]

For most of the 1970s, Griffith starred or appeared in many television films including The Strangers In 7A (1972), Go Ask Alice (1973), Winter Kill (1974), and Pray for the Wildcats (1974), which marked his first villainous role. Griffith appeared again as a villain in Savages (1974), a television film based on the novel Deathwatch (1972) by Robb White. Griffith received his only Primetime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie for his role as the father of a murder victim in the television film Murder In Texas (1981) and won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the television film Murder in Coweta County (1983), co-starring music legend Johnny Cash as the sheriff. He also proved to be a good character actor and appeared in several television mini-series, including the television version of From Here to Eternity (1979), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), Centennial (1978), and the Watergate scandal-inspired Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977), playing a former president loosely based on Lyndon B. Johnson.

Most of the TV movies Griffith starred in were also attempts to launch a new series. 1974's Winter Kill launched the short lived Adams of Eagle Lake which was canceled after only two episodes in 1975. A year later, he starred as a New York City attorney for the DA's office in Street Killing which also failed to launch a new series. Two television films for NBC in 1977, The Girl in The Empty Grave and Deadly Game, were attempts for Griffith to launch a new series featuring him as Police Chief Abel Marsh, a more hard-edged version of Andy Taylor; despite strong ratings for both films, both were unsuccessful.

While appearing in television films and guest roles on television series over the next 10 years, Griffith also appeared in two feature films, both of which flopped at the box office. He co-starred with Jeff Bridges as a crusty old 1930s western actor in the comedy Hearts of the West (1975), and he appeared alongside Tom Berenger as a gay villainous colonel and cattle baron in the western comedy spoof Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985).

He also appeared as an attorney in the NBC mini-series Fatal Vision in 1984, which is considered a precursor to his role in Matlock.

Griffith stunned many unfamiliar with his A Face in the Crowd work in the television film Crime of Innocence (1985), where he portrayed a callous judge who routinely sentenced juveniles to hard prison time. He further stunned audiences with his role as a dangerous and mysterious grandfather in 1995's Gramps, co-starring the late John Ritter. He also appeared as a comical villain in the spy movie spoof Spy Hard (1996) starring Leslie Nielsen. In the television film A Holiday Romance (1999), Griffith played the role of "Jake Peterson." In the film Daddy and Them (2001), Griffith portrayed a patriarch of a dysfunctional southern family.

In the feature film Waitress (2007), Griffith played a crusty diner owner who takes a shine to Keri Russell's character. His latest appearance was the leading role in the romantic comedy, independent film Play The Game (2009) as a lonely, widowed grandfather re-entering the dating world after a 60-year hiatus. The cast of Play The Game also included Rance Howard, Ron Howard's real-life father, who made appearances in various supporting roles on The Andy Griffith Show, and Clint Howard, Ron's younger brother, who had the recurring role of Leon (the kid offering the ice cream cone or peanut butter sandwich) on TAGS.

Singing and recording career[link]

Griffith sang as part of some of his acting roles, most notably in A Face In The Crowd and in many episodes of both The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock. In addition to his recordings of comic monologues in the 1950s, he made an album of upbeat country and gospel tunes during the run of The Andy Griffith Show, which included a version of the show's theme sung by Griffith under the title "The Fishin' Hole". In recent years, he has recorded successful albums of classic Christian hymns for Sparrow Records. His most successful was the 1996 release I Love to Tell the Story: 25 Timeless Hymns, which was certified platinum by the RIAA.^[11]

Griffith appeared in country singer Brad Paisley's music video "Waitin' on a Woman" (2008).

Name dispute[link]

William Harold Fenrick of Platteville, Wisconsin, legally changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith and ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Grant County in November 2006. Subsequently, actor Griffith filed a lawsuit against Griffith/Fenrick, asserting that he violated trademark, copyright, and privacy laws by changing his name for the "sole purpose of taking advantage of Griffith's notoriety in an attempt to gain votes". On May 4, 2007, US District Court Judge John C. Shabaz ruled that Griffith/Fenrick did not violate federal trademark law because he did not use the Griffith name in a commercial transaction but instead strove "to seek elective office, fundamental First Amendment protected speech."^[12]

Associations[link]

R.G. Armstrong[link]

The longest association Griffith has had began in 1949 with a then-unknown actor, R.G. Armstrong. They met when Armstrong was one of Griffith's and his first wife's students at UNC, where Armstrong majored in drama. After graduating from college, Armstrong went on to become a versatile character actor while attending The Actors Studio in New York City.

In the 1960s, they were reunited in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, with Armstrong playing a farmer who was the father of a tomboy. In the 1980s, Armstrong made a guest appearance in a two-part episode of Matlock, which was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, playing the role of a sheriff who introduces Matlock to a young, hotshot private investigator. Griffith and Armstrong keep in contact.

Don Knotts[link]

Griffith's relationship with Knotts began in 1955, when they co-starred in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants. Several years later, Knotts had a regular role on The Andy Griffith Show for five seasons. Knotts left the series in 1965 but periodically returned for guest appearances. He appeared in the pilot for Griffith's subsequent short-lived series, The New Andy Griffith Show, and he had a recurring role on Matlock, from 1988 to 1992.

They kept in contact until Knotts' death in early 2006. Griffith traveled from his Manteo, North Carolina home to Los Angeles, California, to visit a terminally ill Knotts in the hospital just before Knotts died from complications of lung cancer.^[13]

Ron Howard[link]

Griffith's friendship with Howard began in 1960, when they guest-starred in the episode of Make Room For Daddy that led to the formation of The Andy Griffith Show that same year. For eight seasons they shared a unique father-son relationship on the set. They guest-starred together in its spin-off series, Mayberry R.F.D., in an episode where Griffith's character married his long-time girlfriend. They also appeared in the episode Opie's Ill-Gotten Gain, in which Howard's character, Opie, runs away from home and attempts to enlist in the US Marines. Howard and Griffith starred together in most of "The Andy Griffith Show" episodes. They costarred in the television special Return to Mayberry (1986), in which the now-adult Opie is about to become a father, and they later appeared together in CBS reunion specials in 1993 and 2003.

Griffith made a surprise appearance as the ghost of Andy Taylor when Howard hosted Saturday Night Live in 1982. Howard did not make any cameo appearances on Matlock, but his mother, Jean Speegle Howard, had a small role in one episode. Howard attended the People's Choice Awards in 1987, where Griffith was honored.

Howard and Griffith keep in contact sharing news about family and personal activities. Howard and his family attended Waitress (2007), which they reportedly enjoyed.^{[citation needed]} To this day, Griffith still calls Howard by his childhood nickname, Ronny.

In October 2008, Griffith and Howard briefly reprised their Mayberry roles in an online video Ron Howard’s Call to Action. It was posted to comedy video website Funny or Die. The video encouraged people to vote and endorsed Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Marriage and family[link]

Griffith and Barbara Bray Edwards were married on August 22, 1949, and they adopted a son, Andrew Samuel Griffith Jr. (born in 1957 and known as Sam Griffith), a real-estate developer, and a daughter, Dixie Nan. They were divorced in 1972. Sam died in 1996 after years of alcoholism.^[15]

He and Cindi Knight were married on April 12, 1983; they had met when he was filming Murder in Coweta County.

Political activities[link]

In addition to his online video with Howard in 2008, in politics Griffith has favored Democrats and recorded television commercials endorsing North Carolina Governors Mike Easley^[16] and Bev Perdue.^[17] He spoke at the inauguration ceremonies of both.^[18][19] In 1984, he declined an offer by Democratic party officials to run against Jesse Helms, a US Senator from North Carolina.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2010, he also starred in ads about Medicare.^[20]

Health[link]

Griffith's first serious health problem was in April 1983, when he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome^[21][22] and could not walk for seven months because of paralysis from the knees down.

On May 9, 2000, he underwent quadruple heart-bypass surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.^[23] After a fall, Griffith underwent hip surgery on September 5, 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.^[24]

Albums[link]

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

Short subjects[link]

Television work[link]

Honors[link]

Andy Griffith and Julie Adams in 1962

Mount Airy annually celebrates Griffith and his eponymous television series with "Mayberry Days", named after the fictional community of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show.^[26]

A statue of the Mayberry characters, Andy and Opie, was constructed in Pullen Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy.

C.F. Martin & Company, guitar manufacturers, offers an Andy Griffith signature model guitar. Limited edition in 2004 of the D-18 Model with 311 units total production. Patterned after Andy's own 1956 D-18.

Griffith received a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album for I Love to Tell the Story — 25 Timeless Hymns in 1997.

In 1999 Griffith was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame with fellow artists Lulu Roman, Barbara Mandrell, David L. Cook, Gary S. Paxton, Jimmy Snow, Loretta Lynn, and Jody Miller.^[27]

In October 2002, an 11-mile (18 km) stretch of US Highway 52 that passes through Mount Airy was dedicated as the Andy Griffith Parkway.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush on November 9, 2005.^[28]

A few weeks earlier, he had helped preside over the reopening of UNC's Memorial Hall and donated a substantial amount of memorabilia from his career to the university.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum.^[29]

References[link]