I just finished watching the 7th season and the final episode with the "Contest" was just a chore to watch. Floyd can barely speak. His speech is so slurred it's even hard to understand him. I'm surprised they even still had him on at this point of his illness.

In which season did he suffer the stroke and which is his final season?

In the Contest episode they cleverly made it look like he could walk by obviously propping him up at the door, then Andy says "come in" and then the camera pans to Andy while you hear footsteps; but at this point Howard McNear could not walk. It must have been sad for the cast to see him like this.

Wikipedia made it seem like for a lot of the series he was ill/incapacitated.

He had a major stroke toward the end of 1962 which paralyzed his left side. He was off the show for (I think) 15 months before returning in 1964. I'm pretty sure that after his stroke he couldn't walk anymore. The only time you'll see him even standing on the show is when he's either behind an object (such as his barber chair) or leaning against a wall. He needed something to help hold him up.

As for his appearance in "Goobers Contest", I've no doubt he had another stroke before filming the episode. Not as severe as the one in '62 but considering his already fragile state, it was bad enough to send him into retirement once he realized he couldn't go on.

A sad ending to such a wonderful person.

Wow, that would be season 3, I guess (when it first happened, that is fairly early on).

Goober's Contest was in '67 and he passed in '69, sad. I wonder what the audience of the time thought of why he acted so slowly, or if it was comman knowledge at the time that he was suffering from the effects of a stroke.

My mom died of a stroke a few years ago. Out of the blue; massive. Never recovered. In some ways I'm relieved.

...and left the show, it became obvious that some of the episodes could have benifited from his precence. So, they called his house one day (I think it was Andy who called) and his wife answered the phone. When he asked if Howard was up to coming back, she said something to the effect of "Oh, he would love it. He really liked doing the show and working with all of you".
So, they wrote all his scenes so he'd either be sitting down, or standing against something on a small platform that was built for him so he'd be leaning back a little bit, and wouldn't be on his feet, but looking like he was standing.

Jack Dodson, who played Howard, says that he got worse as the show went on, though, and by his last episode, he was strugling to get through it and he kept forgetting his lines and everything, and everyone just felt so sorry for him.

I heard Jim Backus was also like that on the set of the last GILLIGANS ISLAND movie (exept he had Parkinsons disease)

I notice all the ways they concealed his immobility. It's heartbreaking to see, the poor man. My father had a massive stroke five years ago. During his rehab, he was diagnosed with cancer. He was gone within six months.

I knew when he came back from The Stroke they let Floyd sit on a stew

...guest-starred in the "TWILIGHT ZONE" episode "The Bard" [5/23/63], he had just recovered from his stroke, and he played all of his scenes sitting down. This was probably how Andy hit on the idea, between 1964 and '67, of just letting "Floyd" maintain a slight illusion of movement, while seated during all of his scenes.

:tv:

I did not know that Floyd was in The TWILIGHT ZONE

...'agmfox8', that's probably why you never heard of (or have seen) it. There were 17 "TWILIGHT ZONE" hour episodes produced in 1963, and they're only seen occasionally. SCI-FI just presented all of them on their late-night schedule this past month, and about the only other time they get shown is usually on their New Year's marathon.

From what I've seen of his performance in "The Bard", "Floyd" recovered from that stroke admirably. But he couldn't move around- and in later years, his speech began to suffer as he grew older.

:tv:

There were 18 hour long Twilight Zone episodes produced plus Howard McNear also appears in the 3rd season episode "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby"

I do not watch The Twilight Zone

I do not watch The Twilight Zone

What a pity. :(

I recently watched Howard McNear's last episode. There were a few closeups of him, and he looked so ill. So much in fact, that after watching it, I looked at an episode guide to see what the story was, and that's how I found out it was his last appearance.

I might be in the minority here, but I think Howard McNear was better as Floyd the Barber after the stroke. His voice and inflections, rapid delivery followed by long, drawn out words, really suited his character and made him seem more of a "character."

While I agree with other posters who have mentioned his last episode as sad (and it was...you could tell he was struggling), for most of the time after the stroke he was, IMO, wonderful and still my favorite character on the show.

I just finished watching the 7th season and the final episode with the "Contest" was just a chore to watch. Floyd can barely speak. His speech is so slurred it's even hard to understand him. I'm surprised they even still had him on at this point of his illness.

In which season did he suffer the stroke and which is his final season?

In the Contest episode they cleverly made it look like he could walk by obviously propping him up at the door, then Andy says "come in" and then the camera pans to Andy while you hear footsteps; but at this point Howard McNear could not walk. It must have been sad for the cast to see him like this.

Wikipedia made it seem like for a lot of the series he was ill/incapacitated.
i just watched "the contest" episode and i noticed Rob Reiner was in it

I didn't realize Howard Mcnear had a stroke until I was older and read articles about the show. As a kid, I just thought that was Floyd. The producers did a fantastic job making him a part of the show, and a BIG part of it, without making it too obvious of what happened. I'm sure many adults at the time realized this, but not many youngsters! And credit to Mr. Mcnear for continuing onward. I don't mean to sound crude, but I believe his post-stroke Floyd is more remembered than is pre-stroke Floyd. I don't know why, but there's something endearing about him after the stroke. It just makes him "Floyd", and we can't help but love him. Despite his stubborness.

Howard McNear seemed to be able to walk after the stroke, but very slowly. In the fifth season episode "Barney's Physical," Floyd is seen taking a few steps in the courthouse "party" scenes. In the sixth season episode, "Aunt Bee on TV," he is also seen taking several steps in the Taylor's kitchen. In that same episode, in the crowd scene, after Andy says "the sunglasses fooled us!," Helen takes Floyd's arm and actually helps him walk faster over to the rest of the group (they make it look like Helen and Floyd just happen to be walking side by side, but after looking closely, she is helping him along).
This is why they never showed Howard McNear walk for more than a few steps after his stroke, because if he did, it would be apparent that he couldn't walk very fast. As time went on, maybe he couldn't walk at all, but he was seen walking in those particular episodes after his stroke.

Very interesting information is being said here. I didn't know about any of this before. Are there any books that you know of that talk about this topic in more detail?

I have the book by Richard Michael Kelly, originally published in 1981, but I think my edition is 1987. I haven't read it for quite some time, but that book does go into detail about Howard NcNear's stroke, how he was forced to leave the show for a year and a half, and how he came back to 'solve a problem in a script,' in which Floyd's presence would be the missing piece, but I'm not sure if the book even explains that part; just that Andy called Howard's home, his wife answered the phone and said it would be a "godsend" for him to get back into the show. Then it explains that they built the hidden stands which would show him standing, that his walking would have to be just implied by scene context, et al, and he became a big part of many episodes for another couple of years. At some time he had a secnd stroke, but I don't think the book specifically says it was before he left for good and it's said in the show that he finally went to live in Mt. Pilot. But it does contain interviews from Andy Griffith and Jack Dodson about filming his last scene, and how it was extremely frustrating to him and very sad to his fellow actors, who could tell he was fading. Dodson says getting through that last scene was the hardest thing he has ever had to do as an actor; and apparently he meant emotionally, as well the number of directions and takes for a short, simple scene.

The book also tells about his funeral; how there were many performers who knew him who got up and shared their memories, including Hal Smith ['Otis'] and there were "more laughs than tears." I trust that pleased Mr. McNear.

I might be in the minority here, but I think Howard McNear was better as Floyd the Barber after the stroke. His voice and inflections, rapid delivery followed by long, drawn out words, really suited his character and made him seem more of a "character."

While I agree with other posters who have mentioned his last episode as sad (and it was...you could tell he was struggling), for most of the time after the stroke he was, IMO, wonderful and still my favorite character on the show.

Here's the one trait Howard McNear had in common with Floyd the Barber (https://www.metv.com/stories/heres-the-one-trait-howard-mcnear-had-in-common-with-floyd-the-barber)

The actor and his character may not have been so different!

I wonder if it would have been better if they made it known on the show that Floyd had a stroke instead of trying to hide his condition in various ways?

I'm sure McNear wouldn't have wanted pity or sympathy.

Howard McNear recovered from a stroke to return to Mayberry (https://www.metv.com/stories/nothing-could-keep-floyd-the-barber-out-of-mayberry)

Not even health complications kept Floyd away for long.