- #Andy griffith football story 1953 video professional#
- #Andy griffith football story 1953 video series#
The episode served as the inspiration for "The Andy Griffith Show," which debuted on CBS in 1960, where he expanded his character into one of the most beloved television series of all time. After a series of occasional guest appearances on "The Steve Allen Show" (NBC, 1956-1960), Griffith landed an episode on the Danny Thomas show, "Make Room for Daddy," (ABC, CBS, 1953-1965), making his first appearance as the no-nonsense, down-home Sheriff Andy Taylor. Griffith returned to comedy with a feature film version of "No Time for Sergeants" (1958), working again with Knotts, then returned to the stage and earned another Tony nomination for his performance in the musical "Destry Rides Again" (1960).
In his first film role, Griffith arguably never again turned in such a powerful performance playing such a dark character. Written by "On the Waterfront" (1954) screenwriter Budd Schulberg, the film was based on the alleged onstage phoniness of Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey. Griffith played Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, an Arkansas drifter who is plucked out of obscurity and finds fame as a television host, but whose friendly, folksy charm is cover for scheming ambition for political power. He soon caught the eye of acclaimed film director Elia Kazan, who cast him in a startling dramatic role in "A Face in the Crowd" (1957).
#Andy griffith football story 1953 video professional#
He reprised the role on Broadway the following year, earning a Tony nomination for his performance, and was joined onstage by a young comic actor named Don Knotts, with whom Griffith would enjoy a lengthy professional and personal relationship. He was soon tapped to play the lead role in the United States Steel Hour presentation of the Ira Levin play, "No Time for Sergeants" (ABC, 1955). Griffith honed the monologue to perfection and performed it in one of his four appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (CBS, 1948-1971). The skit was released on a record album in 1953. After three years of teaching, Griffith and his first wife, Barbara Edwards, began developing comedy and music routines that they performed on the road, including a comedy monologue called "What it Was, Was Football," a first-person point of view of a simple farm boy's first bewildering experience watching a football game. After graduation, he became a music teacher at Goldsboro High School, but still yearned to perform professionally. While in college, his focus turned again to the arts with an emphasis on music and theater, and he eventually earned his degree in 1949.
First hoping to become an opera singer, he shifted gears and set out to become a preacher, enrolling at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina as a pre-divinity student. Airy, NC, Griffith developed a strong interest and talent in music at an early age. Often exerting strong creative control over his efforts, Griffith brought a sense of realism, charm and honesty to his shows and characters that managed to never stray into caricature, and whose appeal endured for generations of viewers.īorn on June 1, 1926, in Mt. Meanwhile, over the course of his career, Griffith returned to his first love of music and won a Grammy for a 1997 gospel album. Following several spin-offs of "Andy Griffith" throughout the decades, he reprised his stardom as "Matlock" and made many noted guest appearances well into the new millennium. He was a regular on "The Steve Allen Show" (1956-1964) before introducing Sheriff Andy Taylor alongside Ron Howard's Opie on the seventh season of "The Danny Thomas Show" (1953-1964). Griffith turned to television with "No Time for Sergeants" (1955) - a role he reprised for the 1958 film of the same name - and made his feature debut with a thunderous dramatic performance as a manipulative, power-hungry grifter who becomes a television host in Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd" (1957). Sun" and the woodsy "What it Was, Was Football" (1953), one of the most popular recorded monologues of all time. But instead he rose to fame as a monologist, delivering a parody of the Johnny Ray song "Please Mr. Prior to becoming a friendly face in many American living rooms, Griffith was a talented musician with early aspirations to be an opera singer. With his folksy, down-to-earth charm and winning smile, actor Andy Griffith brought a warm sincerity to his most popular roles - small-town Sheriff Andy Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show" (CBS, 1960-68) and the crafty southern lawyer Ben Matlock on "Matlock" (NBC/ABC, 1986-1995).
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