Why did Frances Bavier settle in a small North Carolina town

[TMC]

Much has been made about how during her later years, was a recluse who wanted to be left alone. So why did she settle in a small town in North Carolina less than an hour away from the town used as the model for the show -- Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy became "Mayberry" and is near Pilot Mountain, etc.?

If I have my facts straight, due to The Andy Griffith Show's enduring popularity in the state, Ms. Bavier would have uninvited strangers going to her door at all hours, seemingly every day and grew very tired of it. Over time she was less and less polite to nearly everyone.

[Duster76]

For lack of a better word, one of the oddities of the series was the apparent lasting effect the series had on the lives of the three women most closely associated with the series. Of the three, Bavier, Lynn (Thelma Lou) both wound up in Mount Airy. Lynn's last IMD credit not related to TAGS was an episode of Barnaby Jones in 1978. Aneta Corsaut (Helen Crump) never married and all her credits from the reunion movie on are related to Andy Griffith.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by TMC

So why did she settle in a small town in North Carolina less than an hour away from the town used as the model for the show -.

Perhaps she wanted to "escape" to the Mayberry mystique, but really didn't want to role play "Aunt Bee"?

I can definitely sympathize with the desire to not be thrust into a mold at the whim of the passing public, so her reclusiveness is not a shock.....who wants to have to wear makeup,hairdo all day everyday just so some fool can come compare your housekeeping to their mental image of what Aunt Bee must be like?

And perhaps small town North Carolina became an illusion worth pursuing for her, similar to the rail town of "Willoughby" in that episode of the Twilight Zone?

Wanting to live like Aunt Bee without having to be Aunt Bee, in other words.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by TMC

Much has been made about how during her later years, was a recluse who wanted to be left alone. So why did she settle in a small town in North Carolina less than an hour away from the town used as the model for the show -- Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy became "Mayberry" and is near Pilot Mountain, etc.?

If I have my facts straight, due to The Andy Griffith Show's enduring popularity in the state, Ms. Bavier would have uninvited strangers going to her door at all hours, seemingly every day and grew very tired of it. Over time she was less and less polite to nearly everyone.

One of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that most small towns in North Carolina (particularly those in the part of North Carolina Siler City is in) aren't like Mayberry; the people can be very nasty to outsiders and if you don't make the effort to try to fit in you can find yourself on the receiving end of jokes/discipline. Even if you do make the effort to fit in and be friendly you can still find yourself on the receiving end of mean jokes/discipline. To give an example A good friend of mine's wife nearly found herself getting a beating with a hickory switch at Tweetsie Railroad because despite the being one of the nicest people you could ever meet the ride operators weren't happy that a foreigner (my friend's wife is Australian and despite living in the US for five years still has a thick accent) was visiting their amusement park.

Not helping things was Francis Bavier didn't really make an effort to fit in. By the time she moved to Siler City she had become a crazy cat lady and almost never left the house, preferring to have her groceries and necessities to be delivered by delivery men who remarked that the house smelt like cat urine and feces (Francis Bavier let the cats have the entire house while she allowed herself a room at the back of it). From what I've heard the only nice thing she did was when she died she left her royalties from The Andy Griffith Show the Siler City Police Department so every year the officers can get a bonus at Christmas. It's a real shame that Francis Bavier wasn't close to Griffith during the run of the show as if she were close she would've heard the horror stories he experienced growing up in Mount Airy and probably would've thought better of moving to a small town in North Carolina.

[vitoscotti]

Frances Bavier and Betty Lyn settling in the area TAGS was about is just plain odd. Especially, Bavier and Griffith not always seeing eye to eye. Then, Betty Lyn being a goodwill ambassador to the AG museum is a wonderful gesture. But to pack up and move their permanently?

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Frances Bavier and Betty Lyn settling in the area TAGS was about is just plain odd. Especially, Bavier and Griffith not always seeing eye to eye. Then, Betty Lyn being a goodwill ambassador to the AG museum is a wonderful gesture. But to pack up and move their permanently?

The thing about Betty Lynn was she had a rather weird family situation that resulted in her having to be the breadwinner for her parents and siblings (Which is why she never married) One thing isn't usually brought up when discussing Betty Lynn is her huge crush on Andy Griffith, though (she claimed) she never pursued him because she didn't want to break up his marriage (at the time they first met Griffith's marriage to his first wife Barbara had yet to devolve into heated arguments, punching walls and wrecking the house that it would a year later). Having said that, there was a rumor I read on some message board a few years back that Griffith actually did have a brief affair with Betty Lynn at the start of Season 6 (apparently he and Aneta Corsaut had had a fight before the rehearsals The Return of Barney Fife and he wanted to have some fun that evening) and that in order to keep the matter quiet he gave Betty Lynn a portion of his enormous royalties which allowed her to finally leave her family as they were enough she could split them and still live on her own. As such when she retired she decided to settle in Mount Airy as a token of appreciation as well as already being in North Carolina as a result of playing Ben Matlock's secretary Sara on Matlock

[GentlemanJim]

It's really no mystery why any celebrity would want to retreat from the prying judgementalism, is it?

[vitoscotti]

Griffith must of made a fortune off TAGS. Knotts, Howard a good salary. But, I bet the other cast members got meager money from the show. Betty Lynn said she wasn't under contract. Just got called in when they needed her.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Griffith must of made a fortune off TAGS. Knotts, Howard a good salary. But, I bet the other cast members got meager money from the show. Betty Lynn said she wasn't under contract. Just got called in when they needed her.

Yes Betty Lynn got paid 500 dollars (equivalent to roughly 4400 dollars in 2020 dollars) an appearance as Thelma Lou\ and did not make any royalties. As I posted above there was a post on another message board (I think that it was the old IMDB message boards) that said that Andy Griffith gave Betty Lynn a portion of his royalties following a brief affair he had with her during the production of The Return of Barney Fife (Andy and Aneta Corsaut had gotten into a fight during rehearsals and that evening Andy wanted to have some fun). In order to keep the matter quiet Andy gave her a small portion of his generous royalties that despite the size was enough for her to finally become independent of her family as she halved it with them (even having it still allowed her to live a good life alone)

[Duster76]

Interesting information on Betty Lynn. I'm not sure I'm buying the IMD royalties information, but it's hard to see how Betty Lynn squeezed out of living in the 70's and beyond based on her IMD credits. I think her career was mismanaged, she had decent range as an actress, she should have focused more on dramatic parts. With respect to Matlock, she and Griffith got into an argument over the size of her part, Griffith told her to take it up with the producers and she was let go. As a result, Lynn and Griffith did not speak for 20 years.

[vitoscotti]

Betty Lynn was only in 26 of the 249 TAGS episodes. This is from a 2007 newspaper interview with her.
On why she couldn’t afford to retire to the French Riviera on “Griffith Show” royalties:

“People think I get paid every time it’s shown. ... Original residuals were for six reruns, and that was all. And it would go down to nothing at the end of the rerun. But that’s all I ever got.”

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by Duster76

Interesting information on Betty Lynn. I'm not sure I'm buying the IMD royalties information, but it's hard to see how Betty Lynn squeezed out of living in the 70's and beyond based on her IMD credits. I think her career was mismanaged, she had decent range as an actress, she should have focused more on dramatic parts. With respect to Matlock, she and Griffith got into an argument over the size of her part, Griffith told her to take it up with the producers and she was let go. As a result, Lynn and Griffith did not speak for 20 years.

Didn't know that about Lynn and Griffith having a falling out. While it is sad (particularly given how Betty Lynn was madly in love with Griffith during the run of the show) I can't say I'm surprised. With the exceptions of Don Knotts, Ron Howard, Hal Smith, Aneta Coursaut, Jerry van Dyke and all the child actors he worked with Griffith seemed to have a lovely habit of alienating and driving away almost everyone who ever worked with him. Maybe that's why he and Dick van Dyke were able to have such a long friendship (due to them only working together as Stand Up Comedians when they were starting out in New York in the Fifties and on that two part episode of Diagnosis Murder)

[Zoneboy]

I live about 15 minutes from Siler City and know people that knew Frances Bavier. She was a recluse, but it didn't start that way. Her decision to move to Siler City was after a chance meeting with another woman she had met at a spa who was from there. The woman told her about her hometown and Frances became so enamored with it that she decided to visit and see for herself. She liked it and decided to settle there. Unfortunately, she couldn't escape Mayberry because the town idiots would constantly remind her of it. She would be in the grocery store and people would ask things like how many jars of pickles do you need? or where's Andy and Opie? It got to the point that she hired others to do her errands and she only went out when absolutely necessary. She may have been a recluse, but when she died many people in the area benefited from her generosity.

[Chocolate Moose]

Residuals are SO different now!!!!

[hifijohn]

Its interesting how people get into show business for the attention but hate it when people give attention.