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A favorite actor and friend of many died Tuesday 2012JUL02. I know the Good Doctor held him dear and admired him. I am sure many of you did too. Some of you may be aware of his early years as a humorist. Griffith began his career with a recording of a monologue entitled “What It Was, Was Football”. It is some kind of funny! It made him an instant star. It was heights to heights all the way from there.

Andy contributed to our appreciation of the English language. I believe his normal accent was "Tidewater" but he was a master at all Southern accents. He showed the range of his dialect ability in several movies and television plays that most people do not know about, and in being the Sheriff of Mayberry and a successful Atlanta lawyer with a limited taste in clothing. Andy was loyal to his friends. When Floyd the Barber from Mayberry had a stroke in real life, he continued as an active member of the cast. Andy mentored and promoted young actors and directors.

Andy was a talented musician. He sang hymns with beauty and conviction.

I could write pages about Andy Griffith, but I will stop here. I hope some of you in Alpha Agora will add your tributes to Andy here on this thread. Perhaps the Good Doctor will also start a thread about Andy. If he does, just defer to it.

My Facebook was filled with pictures and tributes today.

This morning my friend, Teddy Allen, a regular columnist, penned this fine tribute to Andy. Hard to beat.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbc ... 2120703024

I think Andy Griffith was a much better actor than his stereotype country bumpkin roles such as Will Stockdale or Andy Taylor. His character in A Face in the Crowd was Mr. Hyde to Sheriff Taylor's Dr. Jekyll. If you've neve seen it, look for it. He plays a character you'd never suspect could exist in such a simple hillbilly hobo, a character as evil as Angela Lansbury's "Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin" in The Manchurian Candidate or Shelly WInters' "Rose-Ann D'Arcey," the mother in A Patch of Blue.

In "Murder in Coweta County" Andy played the villian against the hero Johnny Cash. It was masterful.