Quotes

[on his off-camera relationship with Frances Bavier, who played Aunt Bee] There was just something about me she did not like.

[How he valued Don Knotts as an actor/best friend]: I loved Don. There was no one like him.

[For making Chapel Hill, which is where he went to college, proud of him]: I am proud of my connections to Carolina and pleased to know that some results from a lifetime of work on television, film, stage and recordings will have a permanent home in Chapel Hill.

I was baptized alongside my mother when I was 8 years old. Since then, I have tried to walk a Christian life, ... And now that I'm getting older, I realized that I'm walking even closer with my God.

I still play that guitar. It's a Martin D-18 with a clear pick guard. I've played that guitar on and off my TV shows for nearly 50 years.

[When he used a televangelist as his model]: I did an impression of Oral Roberts, and near the end, I took Elia Kazan's head in my hands, and I healed him, I walked out of that restaurant with the part.

[on filming a 2-part Matlock (1986) episode in his hometown]: During all the years of the old Griffith show I tried to talk them into filming something in North Carolina, but they said, 'Why? They already think you're in North Carolina anyway.'

[on being released from Universal Studios - while being typecast as Andy Taylor]: I wanted to prove that I could play something else, but there were 249 episodes out there of 'Mayberry,' and it was aired every day. It was hard to escape.

If you think and feel what you're supposed to think and feel, hard enough, it'll come out through your eyes - and the camera will see it.

[In 1996]: I'll be 70 on June 1. I don't want to make a living - I mean, I do. I really don't have to. But I want to work for my mind and my spirit. I know how to do a couple of things, and I can sing a little, and I can act, and I can write a little, so I wanna try that.

[In 1987]: They saw me as more of a personality than an actor, and I didn't get much work.

[In comparing himself to one of his characters]: I am from a little town in North Carolina. I have chosen to keep one foot in that life and my other foot in this life and I've had success with that. This man does the same thing. He is from a little community outside of Atlanta, and he has chosen to keep one foot in that life and the other foot in this life. So far as his being a country lawyer, he's the kind of guy that will let you believe anything you choose to believe as long as it works in his corner.

[In 1986]: There ain't no way you're going to do an hour show every week and go home to Mayberry.

[on working off-camera on- the set of _"Matlock" (1986)]: I do my best in the mornings. I've also asked to put the grueling courtroom scenes at the end of the week's filming, so that I have time to learn all the lines. They have, all but twice - and those two times were nightmares. Learning lines in front of the crew is one of the most difficult things you can do.

[on comparison his sociable sheriff role to his sociable lawyer role]: I'm not going to retire. I cannot live without comedy. I write a lot on 'Matlock,' too, and I put a lot of comedy in it. Sometimes the writers make Matlock is a very bright man, but he's vain.

[In 1989]: I always wanted to bring a show here. I thought it would be good for the town and good for the company.

Hell, I'm just not comfortable with it. But isn't this one beautiful piece?

[In 1991]: I can't tell you how surprised I was - until my wife admitted she had torn out the page of the article that had included me. I deserve worst dressed - both as Andy Griffith and as the character I play. Away from the set, I only wear Levi's jeans and Lands' End shirts and tennis shoes. And for six seasons on 'Matlock,' I've been wearing the same rumpled gray suit.

It's the damnedest thing I ever heard of. There are books of all kinds, trading cards, videotapes of the shows. Fan clubs? Oh, there's several of them. They have conventions and things. I can't go; I'm working. But a lot of the others from the old show. But I just can't, while I'm doing this show I can't [find the time to] do anything else.

People started saying that Mayberry was based on Mount Airy. It sure sounds like it, doesn't it?

[When believed that [Ron Howard] would have casted him in one of his former co-star's anticipated directorial movies]: Ron Howard called me a few mornings ago. He and his wife had seen it and he wanted to tell me how he liked it. And he thought I was good in it, too, and he said, 'Sometime, it will happen.' I look forward to it when it does happen. At least Ronnie still knows that I'm a pretty good actor.

[Who said in 1998 about [The Andy Griffith Show (1960)] that had singing]: Music was always important to our show. Don [Knotts] and I sang a lot together, you know ... We would sing hymns in the jail while we were dusting, sweeping and different things.

[When he gave credit for creating Mayberry to [Sheldon Leonard]]: At first Sheldon [Leonard] didn't want it to be in North Carolina, he just wanted it to be somewhere in the South. And I hate these made up names. So, we did have Mount Pilot which there's a place called Pilot Mountain up near Mount Airy. But, I gradually started slipping in real towns in North Carolina like Asheville, and Raleigh and Siler City. And so it became, during that first year, it became a town in North Carolina.

[When asked in 2007 what was his favorite [The Andy Griffith Show (1960)] episode]: The second episode that we shot I knew Don should be funny and I should play straight for him. That opened up the whole series because I could play straight for everybody else. And I didn't have to be funny. I just let them be funny.

But I guess you could say I created Andy Taylor. Andy Taylor's the best part of my mind. The best part of me.

[Who said in 1994 about [Matlock (1986)]'s final season]: We have recently gotten more and more away from the traditional formula. I like that a lot. It makes it much more entertaining for people who perform on the show and I hope for people who watch.