There has been other threads about Andy Griffith playing "dark roles", or what I like to call "Evil Andy". Actually Evil Andy predates Sheriff Taylor, with Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tgi47LOZO4M

This film was called Under the Influence, where Andy's character played a very alcoholic man who owned a hardware store,which was worked in by his son Keanu Reeves. The father character has two sons and two daughters and a long suffering wife.

We have seen other movies and shows about alcoholism, where we cheer for the afflicted to "find the light" and get sober, that he is a good person if and when he didn't drink. Well, Andy's character was a horrible bastard from the start. Ran off the older son (the comic), the youngest son played by Keanu becomes an alcoholic and is constantly being berated by the father, when it's his father's fault. The older daughter is an emotional mess who tries to commit suicide half heartedly when her father downplays her news she got a promotion at work. The youngest daughter is a shy teen who wants to go to art school (on a scholarship), but Evil Andy drunk at the school art exhibition tells the art teacher that his daughter is going to be an accountant at his hardware store. Even in the hospital, he tells the oldest comic son that there is no future in that line of work, even though the son is successful.

At the end, you want this old man to die. Had no redeeming values. Still would have been an evil, mean old nasty man who delighted in spreading his misery on everyone else. If he were real, I would have given him all the liquor he wanted to hasten his demise and free the family.

Good film if you never seen it. Very 1980's. Evil Andy does drunkenly sing Midnight Special badly.

After “The Andy Griffith Show”, AG made several attempts to distance himself from the Andy Taylor character, but they really weren’t believable to me. I think the only TAGS actor who escaped typecasting was Ron Howard.

Watch Andy Griffith in his debut movie “A Face in the Crowd”.

Watch Andy Griffith in his debut movie “A Face in the Crowd”.

Oh, yeah! It was a chilling but BRILLIANT performance- and surprisingly relevant today!

BTW, young Patricia Neal played one of the women who loved him that he eagerly used her affection for him for his own devises and she would admit that she DID love him while making that movie (and it sure SHOWED).

While I still enjoy watching the AG Show (esp. the b/w ones) there's no doubt, off screen, Andy had a very dark personality.:( Quite the opposite of his happy-go-lucky Andy Taylor (at least of the b/w years, the color years Andy started to show just some of his sourness).

I like his performance as an evil J.R. Ewing type millionaire in a TV movie from the 80s called MURDER IN COWATA COUNTY.

While I still enjoy watching the AG Show (esp. the b/w ones) there's no doubt, off screen, Andy had a very dark personality.:( Quite the opposite of his happy-go-lucky Andy Taylor (at least of the b/w years, the color years Andy started to show just some of his sourness).

People shouldn’t confuse actors and actresses with characters they play. For example, Griffith was not enamored of his hometown for some reason.
https://myfox8.com/2012/08/03/old-andy-griffith-interview-surfaces-stirring-up-emotions-in-mount-airy/

And many people were surprised when Griffith endorsed Obama for President in 2008. I guess they assumed that since Griffith grew up in the rural South, he would be a Republican.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2012-jul-03-la-pn-the-democratic-politics-of-the-late-andy-griffith-20120703-story.html

he also played a very nasty judge in the tv movie crime of innonce i like to refer to the judge in that movie as andy taylors evil twin

After “The Andy Griffith Show”, AG made several attempts to distance himself from the Andy Taylor character, but they really weren’t believable to me. I think the only TAGS actor who escaped typecasting was Ron Howard.

Andy wasn't typecast. Typecasting is when an actor finds it difficult to find work because they are so closely associated with one role. Bob Denver is a prime example of this. Andy had a very succesful career post TAGS.

[QUOTE=Zoneboy;5672957]Andy wasn't typecast. Typecasting is when an actor finds it difficult to find work because they are so closely associated with one role. Bob Denver is a prime example of this. Andy had a very succesful career post TAGS.[/QU

There is a difference between being so well known for a role that finding work becomes difficult and being typecast. An actor who is typecast gets too identified with a character type and can't successfully audition for other roles. Need an overprotective busybody mother/mother-in-law type call Mabel Albertson, need a humorless old grouch call Charles Lane, need a shopkeeper or minister type call Dabbs Greer, need a thug call Richard Reeves, need a banker/CEO type call Roy Roberts.

There is a difference between being so well known for a role that finding work becomes difficult and being typecast. An actor who is typecast gets too identified with a character type and can't successfully audition for other roles. Need an overprotective busybody mother/mother-in-law type call Mabel Albertson, need a humorless old grouch call Charles Lane, need a shopkeeper or minister type call Dabbs Greer, need a thug call Richard Reeves, need a banker/CEO type call Roy Roberts.

That makes sense and you gave some excellent examples. The only difference is that the people you mentioned may have been typecast for playing a certain type of character, but they had no trouble finding work. I'll accept your definition, but mine is also correct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typecasting

Andy wasn't typecast. Typecasting is when an actor finds it difficult to find work because they are so closely associated with one role. Bob Denver is a prime example of this. Andy had a very succesful career post TAGS.

Denver starred in a couple of series after GI - The Good Guys and Dusty’s Trail.

I agree that Griffith had no problems getting roles. Matlock ran 9 seasons, for example.

I agree that Griffith had no problems getting roles. Matlock ran 9 seasons, for example.

Why did it take almost 20 years for AG to find another successful series?