https://www.metv.com/stories/the-real-thelma-lou-left-hollywood-for-mayberry-days

Betty Lynn left L.A. for Mount Airy in 2007.

https://www.metv.com/stories/the-real-thelma-lou-left-hollywood-for-mayberry-days

Betty Lynn left L.A. for Mount Airy in 2007.

I thought Betty Lynn should have had a better career, I don't know if it was her or bad management but something went wrong along the way. She appeared as a Barnaby Jones client in the season 7 opener of the series. That was her final IMD credit not somehow related to her time on TAGS.

As I write this Rogers Realty & Auction is auctioning 531 of Lynn’s personal artifacts (the final bids are due this Monday), the items with the highest bids are her engagement ring ($1,800) and her guitar ($750).

According to Wikipedia (so who knows for sure) Betty was working on an autobiography at the time of her death that will at some point be released (I wouldn't hold my breath).

The three actresses most associated with the series Frances Bavier, Betty Lynn and Aneta Corsaut seemed to have rather odd private lives. Betty and Aneta were never married and while Frances bio indicated she was briefly wed the details are a little sketchy, enough so they could have been made up by some agent when she arrived in Hollywood.

That was her final IMD credit not somehow related to her time on TAGS.

Is there some reason you've excluded Betty's 1990 credit for Shades of LA --? Because Bob Sweeney was the director??

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0698863/?ref_=nm_flmg_eps_tt_1

Apparently also you've disqualified her 4 Matlock appearances ('86) as that was Griffith's series.

Is there some reason you've excluded Betty's 1990 credit for Shades of LA --? Because Bob Sweeney was the director??

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0698863/?ref_=nm_flmg_eps_tt_1

Apparently also you've disqualified her 4 Matlock appearances ('86) as that was Griffith's series.

I think you missed part of what I wrote, "That was her final IMD credit not somehow related to her time on TAGS". Her final set of credits are all linked back to her time on TAGS. She and Griffith had a falling out due to the small size of her Matlock part as a result the show stopped using her, after that they didn't speak for 20 years.

No, I didn't miss what you wrote (I quoted that same statement!!). Otherwise I had no reason to reply.

But Wikipedia has missed her appearance on the Shades of LA series. If you did know about that one from IMDb, implying that she got the role due to Sweeney being the director is something I doubt that you can prove -- making that a very questionable connection to TAGS, if one at all. It's not the same as the obvious TAGS-Matlock ties.

You're a stickler for accuracy -- it's not as though the LA series was Sweeney's. So any true TAGS "relation" is not proven.

Before the Matlock appearances, she had single episode appearances thru the 70s. I remember her recurring role on My Three Sons, as Steve's secretary for several seasons. They couldn't make up their minds between the name Janice or Janet; the role was originally played one time by Abby Dalton.

[QUOTE=biffbronson;6183883]No, I didn't miss what you wrote (I quoted that same statement!!). Otherwise I had no reason to reply.

But Wikipedia has missed her appearance on the Shades of LA series. If you did know about that one from IMDb, implying that she got the role due to Sweeney being the director is something I doubt that you can prove -- making that a very questionable connection to TAGS, if one at all. It's not the same as the obvious TAGS-Matlock ties.

You're a stickler for accuracy -- it's not as though the LA series was Sweeney's. So any true TAGS "relation" is not proven.

I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt because frankly your argument makes no sense. Outside of her 1986 brief revival in the Bob Sweeney directed Return to Mayberry and brief appearances in a few early Matlock episodes her career effectively ended with the Barnaby Jones season 7 opener. So her 1990 IMD credit in Shades of LA sticks out like a sore thumb. Obviously Sweeney recruited her for this episode in fact he may have created the part as a favor. She may have needed a credit to maintain her union health benefits, she was 64 at the time still a year away from Medicare. Lynn was a very devout Catholic so the role seemed tailor made for her.

So her 1990 IMD credit in Shades of LA sticks out like a sore thumb. Obviously Sweeney recruited her for this episode in fact he may have created the part as a favor. She may have needed a credit to maintain her union health benefits, she was 64 at the time still a year away from Medicare. Lynn was a very devout Catholic so the role seemed tailor made for her.

Let me just add a few facts, as I think you've gone heavily into speculation that likely can't be proven, decades afterward:

First of all, it's IMDb. "IMD" is so odd that it had me thinking you'd sourced a site I was not familiar with.

Second, the 4 Matlock episodes consisted of a role as a recurring cast addition in the Matlock law offices. That's the fact -- nothing "effectively ended" following the Barnaby Jones appearance, as her career had already slowed significantly well prior to that -- and in my opinion, the Matlock role was more substantial (and memorable) than the "few" and "brief appearances" you've stated, downplaying their importance in Betty's career.

Third, a minor point: Betty was still 63 when the Shades of LA episode was produced, turning 64 as its time of airing came along.

Fourth, Bob Sweeney directed the episode, as with lots of other series -- but he is not known to have been a producer, creator, writer, or casting director for the LA series.

You've made Betty out to be quite a charity case of sorts. You stated that her post-TAGS work was all TAGS related. I was just pointing out an exception you seemed to have missed. If you have proof that Sweeney was involved in Betty's casting in Shades of LA, you haven't produced any.

Let me just add a few facts, as I think you've gone heavily into speculation that likely can't be proven, decades afterward:

First of all, it's IMDb. "IMD" is so odd that it had me thinking you'd sourced a site I was not familiar with.

Second, the 4 Matlock episodes consisted of a role as a recurring cast addition in the Matlock law offices. That's the fact -- nothing "effectively ended" following the Barnaby Jones appearance, as her career had already slowed significantly well prior to that -- and in my opinion, the Matlock role was more substantial (and memorable) than the "few" and "brief appearances" you've stated, downplaying their importance in Betty's career.

Third, a minor point: Betty was still 63 when the Shades of LA episode was produced, turning 64 as its time of airing came along.

Fourth, Bob Sweeney directed the episode, as with lots of other series -- but he is not known to have been a producer, creator, writer, or casting director for the LA series.

You've made Betty out to be quite a charity case of sorts. You stated that her post-TAGS work was all TAGS related. I was just pointing out an exception you seemed to have missed. If you have proof that Sweeney was involved in Betty's casting in Shades of LA, you haven't produced any.


I'll try to respond to all this:

"and in my opinion, the Matlock role was more substantial (and memorable) than the "few" and "brief appearances" you've stated, downplaying their importance in Betty's career"

That's not my opinion of her Matlock role, that was Betty's opinion! She complained to Griffith about the size of the role, he told her to talk to the producers, the result she was no longer cast in the series. The aftermath of the falling out, she and Griffith did not speak for 20 years.

" That's the fact -- nothing "effectively ended" following the Barnaby Jones appearance, as her career had [I][B]already slowed significantly well prior to that"

So what! Her career may have slowed prior to the Jones appearance but it stopped cold after that. The point I made, all her appearances after that were related to her time on TAGS. Here's the statement:

"She appeared as a Barnaby Jones client in the season 7 opener of the series. That was her final IMD credit not somehow related to her time on TAGS".

With respect to Betty's appearance in Shades, this is simply a matter of either you see it or you don't, I can't help you. You're arguing something that's obvious. You know Sweeney's relationship with TAGS, with the reunion film, you know Betty hadn't worked in four years, she had zero credits other than the TAGS related ones mentioned in a dozen years, it's pretty straight forward. And just to wrap this up, casting talent someone has a history with is nothing new or unusual it happens all the time.