Details

Release year: 1960

Storyline

Widower Sheriff Andy Taylor and his son Opie live with Andy's Aunt Bee in Mayberry, North Carolina. With virtually no crimes to solve, most of Andy's time is spent philosophizing and calming down his friend and deputy, Barney Fife.

Top credits

Cast

Andy Griffith — Andy Taylor
Ron Howard — Opie Taylor
Don Knotts — Barney Fife
Frances Bavier — Aunt Bee Taylor, Aunt Bee

See all 631 credits →

Awards

6 wins & 3 nominations

See all awards →

Did you know

• Andy Griffith and Frances Bavier did not get along during the series. According to Griffith and Howard Morris, Bavier was extremely sensitive, and resented her role of Aunt Bee. In 1972 Griffith and Ron Howard paid her a visit at her home in Siler City, NC, but she turned them away. When Bavier was terminally ill in 1989, she contacted Griffith to say that she regretted that they did not get along better.

• The show never mentions what happened to Opie's mother. Opie was said to be just "a speck of a boy" when she died. Her first name is never given, her picture is never shown in Andy's house, nor anywhere else, and her grave is never shown.

• Andy Griffith originally told Don Knotts that he only wanted to do the show for five years, so they both signed five-year contracts. During the fifth season, Knotts began looking for other work and signed a five-year deal with Universal Pictures. Griffith decided to continue with the series for three more years, and offered Knotts a new contract. Knotts, already bound by his contract with Universal, left the show.