Mayberry Veterans Return for CBS Reunion

[AKA]

Mayberry Veterans Return for CBS Reunion

By Steve Gorman
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors will take a sentimental journey back to the fictional town of Mayberry next month in a CBS reunion special 35 years after the "Andy Griffith Show" ended its run.

Griffith, 77, who starred as the affable, folksy sheriff and widowed father, Andy Taylor, will host and narrate the one-hour special, slated for Nov. 11, shot on a replica of the courthouse set that appeared in the classic comedy series.

He will be joined by former co-stars Howard, 49, who played his red-haired son, Opie, Knotts, 79, who portrayed Andy's bumbling deputy Barney Fife, and Nabors, 73, the naive but lovable gas station attendant at Wally's filling station.

The special will feature the four veterans reminiscing about the series, highlights from the show, and separate interviews with other surviving cast members, including George Lindsay (Goober) and Betty Lynn (Barney's girlfriend, Thelma Lou).

Griffith and Howard also will return to the spot in the Hollywood Hills where the famous "fishin' hole walk" from the show's original opening sequence was shot. Their re-creation of the segment will be intercut with the original footage, with the grown-up Howard throwing a rock in time with his 6-year-old self.

Set in the small, sleepy town of Mayberry, North Carolina, the homespun situation comedy debuted in 1960 and ran for eight seasons, until Griffith left the show in 1968, leaving the supporting cast to carry on with a new star, Ken Berry, in the retitled series "Mayberry R.F.D."

A nostalgic reunion of the original cast members -- the made-for-TV film "Return to Mayberry" -- aired in April 1986 and was the highest-rated movie that season.

Griffith went on to star as a canny defense lawyer in the long-running 1980s-'90s murder myster drama "Matlock." Knotts quit "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1965 to host his own variety series and later appeared for five years on the sitcom "Three's Company," playing landlord Ralph Furley. He later became a regular on "Matlock."

Nabors, who joined "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1963, left Mayberry after a year and a half to join the Marines as the star of his own spinoff, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."

Howard has had perhaps the most storied post-Mayberry career. He appeared as a child actor in such films as "The Music Man" and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" before landing a starring role a decade later as a teenager in George Lucas' landmark film "American Graffiti." That role led in turn to his signature portrayal of all-American teenager Richie Cunningham in the long-running ABC comedy "Happy Days."

Howard later segued into a career as a filmmaker, directing such box office hits as "Splash," "Cocoon," "Apollo 13" and the Oscar-winning drama "A Beautiful Mind."

[EricIdlefan]

I am glad to see the old gang back. I wished that they made more tv movies than the one they did in 1986.

[hoosierelvisfan]

. . . . they've been showing the commercials a lot lately.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch