The Sheriff of Mayberry died today at the age of 86 from an undisclosed illness. He will be laid to rest in his beloved home state of North Carolina.
While most of America knows Griffith from his namesake show playing Sheriff Andy Taylor and from Matlock, his first real claim to fame was in the 1957 drama flick A Face in the Crowd (his film debut by the way) where Griffith played a dickish drifter who maneuvers himself into a television host position in a desperate attempt to gain political power.
The film was not only great, it happened to include one of my favorite songs, Mama Guitar, sung by Griffith himself:
And speaking of favorite Andy Griffith moments, I must admit to enjoying his performance in the TV Anti-Drug movie Go Ask Alice (1973) based on the book of the same name:
R.I.P Andy