My experience with Andy Griffith is rather limited, but I always recognized him as an actor that brought a strong touch of personality and charisma to his performances, and much like the recent passing of Nora Ephron, today’s news that Griffith died at his home in Dare County, North Carolina this morning comes as a shocker.
My first memory of Griffith was my mother’s dedication to “Matlock” and I loved his performance in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, but other than that much of his career is a mystery (outside of the 2007 feature Waitress) to me other than the weight the name itself carries.
He’s probably best known for “The Andy Griffith Show” in which he starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor alongside his son Opie played by Ron Howard. Upon hearing the news of Grifftih’s passing, Howard took to Twitter where he posted a message saying, “His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations [and] shaped my life I’m forever grateful RIP Andy.”
