Did Andy Griffith have Bipolar Disorder? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mayberry'sBadBoy · 03-18-2022, 09:15 PM

The reason i ask is that after Season 3 (1962-1963) was when Griffith began to play the character a lot more stricter and being prone to snapping at the other characters. While there were changes in personell behind the scenes, it's worth noting that Bipolar Disorder tends to start to get bad at 36 (the age Griffith turned) and the character of Andy Taylor started to grumpier, stricter and less fun to be around. In addition Bipolar Disorder causes riskey behavior (Griffith having sex with Anita Coursaut on set and having an affair on his dying wife, him extending the show despite saying for years it would be only five seasons) and isolation (Griffith would usally be alone when he'd take his friends hunting and he prefered to spend time tinking with his cars as opposed to being with people as well as the stores of him yelling at people at that outerbanks hardware store)

Thoughts?

vitoscotti · 03-20-2022, 02:47 AM

Andy Taylor is a fictional character saying lines crafted by writers.

Yong Fang · 03-20-2022, 03:45 AM

From what I have read about Andy Griffith, he could be a difficult person with a complicated personality.

What I have read about him, was that he did have a small core of friends, mostly from TAGS. People like Don Knotts and Ron Howard. Knotts and Howard (even as a child) was people that Griffith respected. Griffith respected Howard so much that he would allow the child to have his own respectful opinions on how a scene might be better done.

It seems that Griffith was someone that one "had to get to know". I have read a lot about him being short and rude with fans who would approach him asking for autographs and whatnot. Had no desire to be up close to his fans. Knotts on the other hand liked people coming to him asking for autographs, a picture or just to say hi. I read from someone on a message board from the town in North Carolina where Griffith lived upon retirement that he was a mean old (beep).

I saw a video of George Lindsey and he would say that Griffith would call him (and probably some of the other supporting players) about the show and the particular show they were doing for the week and Griffith would critique the process and Lindsey and it could have been positive or negative. If it was negative, things were bad on the set. Unlike a lot of headliners of shows, Griffith owned part of the series.

Griffith was married three times, the first two ending in divorce, but the last wife stayed with him for almost thirty years (1983-2012). Probably Aneta was wise to Andy and liked him physically and maybe some parts of his personality but knew probably that marrying him would have been bad. But again, she was on Griffith's good list, someone that he chose to be friends (and more with). Also, it seems that for whatever reason, Aneta didnt want to be married and wasnt interested in children. A lot of people were like that (and many who were, were often stuck with the demands of family and society to get married).

Lastly, one can see at the (mostly bad) color episodes that Griffith was not happy with the series and wanted out. This is where "Angry Andy" comes in. But even in the Knotts era, there is an episode where Andy had his hand bandaged up. He did it by hitting a wall out of anger (from arguing with his wife at the time).

Lastly......what I call "Evil Andy" could also be good. There is a TV movie from 1986 called "Under the Influence". Griffith plays this older man with a wife and several children who was an alcoholic, not only that, a mean, vicious, sociopathic alcoholic. Because of this, his wife was a pill popper, had an alcoholic son, a very distressed older daughter and a high school senior daughter who wanted to go to art school which the Andy character rejects (the teenager basically just wants to run away).

Now, with these types of shows (Martin Sheen did a similar role around the same time), we are cheering for the alcoholic to sober up and get healthy and get their family back. Not here. You want the Andy character to die (and he did, yay!). He was so mean, sociopathic and violent. But at least drunk as hell, Andy does sing "Midnight Special".

SarahBellum · 03-20-2022, 10:30 AM

Andy seemed like a nice, likeable fellow on-screen, but perhaps he was not the same off-screen. There was apparently some conflict with Elinor Donahue which resulted in her early departure from TAGS. It was reported he did not get along with Francis Bavier and George Lindsay. And of course the hand injury and extra-marital affair that were previously mentioned. Maybe Andy was really a mean SOB.

Chocolate Moose · 03-21-2022, 02:38 PM

He was in charge. He had to be authoritative.

Duster76 · 03-21-2022, 11:28 PM

Interesting topic, and a good write-up by Young Fang.

The character of Andy Taylor in seasons 6-8 was without a doubt the most unusual lead character in the entire history of sitcoms. The angry Andy was not funny in any way, shape or form. The other side of the coin of course was the sleepwalking Andy who seemed to bring nothing to any scene he was in. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was bipolar, but something was definitely wrong. He may have been using painkillers to deal with a physical problem (I believe he had back issues) which may explain some of this. Andy Griffith would make a great subject for a well-researched in-depth biography, we've had biographies like this done in the recent past about Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, John Wayne.

Yong Fang · 03-22-2022, 11:12 AM

There is a website called "The Monster of Mayberry", Google this. This talks a lot about what Griffith was like. Google "Monster of Mayberry" and see. Jason Wingreen who was on All in the Family and Archie BunkerPlace, played a judge on a couple of episodes of Matlock but how Andy treated the fellow players vowed after an episode to never be on the show again. There was a black actor (a main actor) who was late for some reason and Andy called him the "n-word" and said if he was ever late he wouldnt be on the show again.

I loved " A Face in the Crowd" which was a movie Andy Griffith was in several years before the "Andy Griffith Show". This was the forst instance of what I call " Evil Andy", and Griffith played this to a tee. Should have won an Academy Award for this. In the 1970's, Andy played otherevil or bad characters. He himself stated he played bad or evil characters during this time. I mentioned his alcoholic film "Under the Influence" from 1986 and if you see this (and its an excellent film) we wanted the Griffith character to die in the end to free the family, which is what happened (the movie is free available on Youtube).

My main question is this, if Griffith (which he did) owned a piece of TAGS, he should have been very wealthy (almost like Seinfeld) he should not have worked unless he wanted to for the rest of his life. Griffith owned at least 25% of the show so he should have been very wealthy.

I bring up Don Knotts because he was a best friend of Griffith As I said before, Knotts was someone Griffith liked. Griffith was at Knotts death bed comforting him. Holding his hand until he died. ITwasn't that Griffith had no friends, but to Griffith, you had to prove his friendship. From all acounts, Knotts was a very nice man who loved fans and had no problem talking to people who came up to him. There is at least one video of someone doing a Barney Fife impersonation in front of him in his 80's and him going "that's pretty good", it was but even if it sucked, Knotts wouldnt have said so. I never liked Three's Company (except for the beautiful Joyce DeWitt), but that show gave a good man a nice final payday before his retirement.

I think it is interesting that Johnny Carson never interviewed Andy Griffith. Leno did but Carson never did. I looked online because surely Carson did but never did. That might be telling right there.

Yong Fang · 03-22-2022, 11:18 AM

There is a website called "The Monster of Mayberry", Google this. This talks a lot about what Griffith was like. Google "Monster of Mayberry" and see. Jason Wingreen who was on All in the Family and Archie BunkerPlace, played a judge on a couple of episodes of Matlock but how Andy treated the fellow players vowed after an episode to never be on the show again. There was a black actor (a main actor) who was late for some reason and Andy called him the "n-word" and said if he was ever late wouldnt be on the show again. Wingreen stated that he would never ever work with Griffith again, ever. Caroll O'Connor was very loyal to his players and made sure that Wingreen would be taken care of.

I loved " A Face in the Crowd" which was a movie Andy Griffith was in several years before the "Andy Griffith Show". This was the forst instance of what I call " Evil Andy", and Griffith played this to a tee. Should have won an Academy Award for this. In the 1970's, Andy played otherevil or bad characters. He himself stated he played bad or evil characters during this time. I mentioned his alcoholic film "Under the Influence" from 1986 and if you see this (and its an excellent film) we wanted the Griffith character to die in the end to free the family, which is what happened (the movie is free available on Youtube).

My main question is this, if Griffith (which he did) owned a piece of TAGS, he should have been very wealthy (almost like Seinfeld) he should not have worked unless he wanted to for the rest of his life. Griffith owned at least 25% of the show so he should have been very wealthy.

I bring up Don Knotts because he was a best friend of Griffith As I said before, Knotts was someone Griffith liked. Griffith was at Knotts death bed comforting him. Holding his hand until he died. ITwasn't that Griffith had no friends, but to Griffith, you had to prove his friendship. From all acounts, Knotts was a very nice man who loved fans and had no problem talking to people who came up to him. There is at least one video of someone doing a Barney Fife impersonation in front of him in his 80's and him going "that's pretty good", it was but even if it sucked, Knotts wouldnt have said so. I never liked Three's Company (except for the beautiful Joyce DeWitt), but that show gave a good man a nice final payday before his retirement.

I think it is interesting that Johnny Carson never interviewed Andy Griffith. Leno did but Carson never did. I looked online because surely Carson did but never did. That might be telling right there.

vitoscotti · 03-22-2022, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

I saw a video of George Lindsey and he would say that Griffith would call him (and probably some of the other supporting players) about the show and the particular show they were doing for the week and Griffith would critique the process and Lindsey and it could have been positive or negative. If it was negative, things were bad on the set.

George Lindsey's actual quote.

The actor described how he came to know that he had invited Griffith’s disappointment in him. Griffith wouldn’t yell or belittle anyone on the set as could be said of other shows. He would instead punish by withholding any affirmation, encouragement, or feedback of any kind.

“Every Monday night, Andy would call you if he liked the show and your performance,” he said. “So I waited for the call. If it didn’t come, I absolutely dreaded going in to work on Tuesday morning.”

03-18-2022, 09:15 PM	#1
Mayberry'sBadBoy Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 27, 2014 Location: Shriversport, Ohio Posts: 188	Did Andy Griffith have Bipolar Disorder? The reason i ask is that after Season 3 (1962-1963) was when Griffith began to play the character a lot more stricter and being prone to snapping at the other characters. While there were changes in personell behind the scenes, it's worth noting that Bipolar Disorder tends to start to get bad at 36 (the age Griffith turned) and the character of Andy Taylor started to grumpier, stricter and less fun to be around. In addition Bipolar Disorder causes riskey behavior (Griffith having sex with Anita Coursaut on set and having an affair on his dying wife, him extending the show despite saying for years it would be only five seasons) and isolation (Griffith would usally be alone when he'd take his friends hunting and he prefered to spend time tinking with his cars as opposed to being with people as well as the stores of him yelling at people at that outerbanks hardware store) Thoughts?

03-21-2022, 02:38 PM	#5
Chocolate Moose Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 21, 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 4,886	He was in charge. He had to be authoritative.
	__________________ How long a minute is, depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.

03-20-2022, 02:47 AM	#2
vitoscotti Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 14, 2017 Location: Illinois Posts: 1,074	Andy Taylor is a fictional character saying lines crafted by writers.

03-20-2022, 03:45 AM	#3
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	From what I have read about Andy Griffith, he could be a difficult person with a complicated personality. What I have read about him, was that he did have a small core of friends, mostly from TAGS. People like Don Knotts and Ron Howard. Knotts and Howard (even as a child) was people that Griffith respected. Griffith respected Howard so much that he would allow the child to have his own respectful opinions on how a scene might be better done. It seems that Griffith was someone that one "had to get to know". I have read a lot about him being short and rude with fans who would approach him asking for autographs and whatnot. Had no desire to be up close to his fans. Knotts on the other hand liked people coming to him asking for autographs, a picture or just to say hi. I read from someone on a message board from the town in North Carolina where Griffith lived upon retirement that he was a mean old (beep). I saw a video of George Lindsey and he would say that Griffith would call him (and probably some of the other supporting players) about the show and the particular show they were doing for the week and Griffith would critique the process and Lindsey and it could have been positive or negative. If it was negative, things were bad on the set. Unlike a lot of headliners of shows, Griffith owned part of the series. Griffith was married three times, the first two ending in divorce, but the last wife stayed with him for almost thirty years (1983-2012). Probably Aneta was wise to Andy and liked him physically and maybe some parts of his personality but knew probably that marrying him would have been bad. But again, she was on Griffith's good list, someone that he chose to be friends (and more with). Also, it seems that for whatever reason, Aneta didnt want to be married and wasnt interested in children. A lot of people were like that (and many who were, were often stuck with the demands of family and society to get married). Lastly, one can see at the (mostly bad) color episodes that Griffith was not happy with the series and wanted out. This is where "Angry Andy" comes in. But even in the Knotts era, there is an episode where Andy had his hand bandaged up. He did it by hitting a wall out of anger (from arguing with his wife at the time). Lastly......what I call "Evil Andy" could also be good. There is a TV movie from 1986 called "Under the Influence". Griffith plays this older man with a wife and several children who was an alcoholic, not only that, a mean, vicious, sociopathic alcoholic. Because of this, his wife was a pill popper, had an alcoholic son, a very distressed older daughter and a high school senior daughter who wanted to go to art school which the Andy character rejects (the teenager basically just wants to run away). Now, with these types of shows (Martin Sheen did a similar role around the same time), we are cheering for the alcoholic to sober up and get healthy and get their family back. Not here. You want the Andy character to die (and he did, yay!). He was so mean, sociopathic and violent. But at least drunk as hell, Andy does sing "Midnight Special".

03-20-2022, 10:30 AM	#4
SarahBellum Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2007 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 3,873	Andy seemed like a nice, likeable fellow on-screen, but perhaps he was not the same off-screen. There was apparently some conflict with Elinor Donahue which resulted in her early departure from TAGS. It was reported he did not get along with Francis Bavier and George Lindsay. And of course the hand injury and extra-marital affair that were previously mentioned. Maybe Andy was really a mean SOB.

03-21-2022, 11:28 PM	#6
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,644	Interesting topic, and a good write-up by Young Fang. The character of Andy Taylor in seasons 6-8 was without a doubt the most unusual lead character in the entire history of sitcoms. The angry Andy was not funny in any way, shape or form. The other side of the coin of course was the sleepwalking Andy who seemed to bring nothing to any scene he was in. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was bipolar, but something was definitely wrong. He may have been using painkillers to deal with a physical problem (I believe he had back issues) which may explain some of this. Andy Griffith would make a great subject for a well-researched in-depth biography, we've had biographies like this done in the recent past about Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, John Wayne.

03-22-2022, 11:12 AM	#7
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	There is a website called "The Monster of Mayberry", Google this. This talks a lot about what Griffith was like. Google "Monster of Mayberry" and see. Jason Wingreen who was on All in the Family and Archie BunkerPlace, played a judge on a couple of episodes of Matlock but how Andy treated the fellow players vowed after an episode to never be on the show again. There was a black actor (a main actor) who was late for some reason and Andy called him the "n-word" and said if he was ever late he wouldnt be on the show again. I loved " A Face in the Crowd" which was a movie Andy Griffith was in several years before the "Andy Griffith Show". This was the forst instance of what I call " Evil Andy", and Griffith played this to a tee. Should have won an Academy Award for this. In the 1970's, Andy played otherevil or bad characters. He himself stated he played bad or evil characters during this time. I mentioned his alcoholic film "Under the Influence" from 1986 and if you see this (and its an excellent film) we wanted the Griffith character to die in the end to free the family, which is what happened (the movie is free available on Youtube). My main question is this, if Griffith (which he did) owned a piece of TAGS, he should have been very wealthy (almost like Seinfeld) he should not have worked unless he wanted to for the rest of his life. Griffith owned at least 25% of the show so he should have been very wealthy. I bring up Don Knotts because he was a best friend of Griffith As I said before, Knotts was someone Griffith liked. Griffith was at Knotts death bed comforting him. Holding his hand until he died. ITwasn't that Griffith had no friends, but to Griffith, you had to prove his friendship. From all acounts, Knotts was a very nice man who loved fans and had no problem talking to people who came up to him. There is at least one video of someone doing a Barney Fife impersonation in front of him in his 80's and him going "that's pretty good", it was but even if it sucked, Knotts wouldnt have said so. I never liked Three's Company (except for the beautiful Joyce DeWitt), but that show gave a good man a nice final payday before his retirement. I think it is interesting that Johnny Carson never interviewed Andy Griffith. Leno did but Carson never did. I looked online because surely Carson did but never did. That might be telling right there.

03-22-2022, 11:18 AM	#8
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	There is a website called "The Monster of Mayberry", Google this. This talks a lot about what Griffith was like. Google "Monster of Mayberry" and see. Jason Wingreen who was on All in the Family and Archie BunkerPlace, played a judge on a couple of episodes of Matlock but how Andy treated the fellow players vowed after an episode to never be on the show again. There was a black actor (a main actor) who was late for some reason and Andy called him the "n-word" and said if he was ever late wouldnt be on the show again. Wingreen stated that he would never ever work with Griffith again, ever. Caroll O'Connor was very loyal to his players and made sure that Wingreen would be taken care of. I loved " A Face in the Crowd" which was a movie Andy Griffith was in several years before the "Andy Griffith Show". This was the forst instance of what I call " Evil Andy", and Griffith played this to a tee. Should have won an Academy Award for this. In the 1970's, Andy played otherevil or bad characters. He himself stated he played bad or evil characters during this time. I mentioned his alcoholic film "Under the Influence" from 1986 and if you see this (and its an excellent film) we wanted the Griffith character to die in the end to free the family, which is what happened (the movie is free available on Youtube). My main question is this, if Griffith (which he did) owned a piece of TAGS, he should have been very wealthy (almost like Seinfeld) he should not have worked unless he wanted to for the rest of his life. Griffith owned at least 25% of the show so he should have been very wealthy. I bring up Don Knotts because he was a best friend of Griffith As I said before, Knotts was someone Griffith liked. Griffith was at Knotts death bed comforting him. Holding his hand until he died. ITwasn't that Griffith had no friends, but to Griffith, you had to prove his friendship. From all acounts, Knotts was a very nice man who loved fans and had no problem talking to people who came up to him. There is at least one video of someone doing a Barney Fife impersonation in front of him in his 80's and him going "that's pretty good", it was but even if it sucked, Knotts wouldnt have said so. I never liked Three's Company (except for the beautiful Joyce DeWitt), but that show gave a good man a nice final payday before his retirement. I think it is interesting that Johnny Carson never interviewed Andy Griffith. Leno did but Carson never did. I looked online because surely Carson did but never did. That might be telling right there.