Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show) - Overview

Overview

The premiere episode of the Andy Griffith Show begins with Andy telling Opie he was raised by Aunt Bee, who is about to return to Mayberry after a five year sojourn in Morgantown, West Virginia (the real-life hometown of Don Knotts, the actor who portrayed Barney Fife). Being raised by Aunt Bee suggests that Andy was orphaned at an early age, though there is very little evidence offered on the show about Andy's childhood or his family. In one or two instances, old timers remember Andy as a boy. He seems to have no close relatives in Mayberry other than his aunt, his son, and his cousin Barney. In the first two episodes it is stated that Barney is his cousin.

Mayberry's jail after a woman arrested for speeding (Jean Hagen) makes herself at home in it.

Other relatives include Bee's sister Nora (who would also be Andy's aunt), who pays a visit in one episode. In another episode, Andy tells Barney that Aunt Bee is heavily against alcohol due to her brother's trouble with the bottle. It is unclear whether this brother is meant to be Andy's father, or one of Andy's uncles.

Andy went to school in Mayberry and graduated from Mayberry Union High. One episode had Andy and Barney finding their old high school yearbook—the pictures are the actual high school photographs of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts. His first job was working in the movie theater.

In the first season episode number nine, "A Feud is a Feud", Andy mentions being in France during WWII. This statement is ambiguous, however. At the moment it is uttered, Andy is trying to outwit two mountain men intent on murdering each other. It is possible Andy is simply telling a "white lie" to befuddle the two feuders. However, if Andy did indeed see France, he couldn't have seen action on a battlefield because he graduated Mayberry Union High in late spring 1945 and the war in Europe was over in May 1945. He also mentions being in France "during the war" in the episode, "Ellie Comes to Town". He also later mentions being in Africa and that he was a First Sergeant. (President Harry Truman declared an official end to World War II on the last day of 1946-thus Andy could have indeed been in World War II but too late to see any action.)

When the show begins in 1960, Opie is six years old and thus his birth occurred in 1954. Andy may have married in 1952, the same year he apparently became sheriff. In an episode where Barney tries to find Andy a wife, Andy admits that he misses having a wife to come home to after work. If Andy's wife died the year Opie was born, they may have been married only two or three years. This could explain why Opie was an only child.

Andy was depicted as a country-smart sheriff and a caring, nurturing father. His laid-back approach to law enforcement made him an ideal sheriff for the sleepy town. Andy had his finger on the pulse of the community and Mayberry saw little native crime, with the exception of moonshining. Out-of-town bank robbers, scam artists, thieving vagrants and other crooks frequently passed through the area to practice their evil deeds but were no match for the wise and wily sheriff. Andy is known to have shot only one man in his position as sheriff; an armed robber, whom Andy reportedly shot in the leg, with the man being sent away to prison. This was the key event surrounding the episode High Noon in Mayberry, in which the suspect returns to Mayberry years later to present Andy with a shotgun as a gesture for capturing him and setting his life on the track to success by forcing him away from his criminal lifestyle. The sheriff badges worn by Andy and Barney are six point stars; the stars on their shoulder patches have five points.

Andy regularly used reverse psychology on people making them see the error of their ways. He would help transgressors by enabling them to draw their own moral conclusions. Andy had a keen eye for booby traps, and often shielded Barney from both career and social landmines. Andy's pride in and love for his hometown is very evident in his work and his homelife.

Early shows depict Andy as having a naive demeanor and "aw-shucks" personality with home-spun humor which, actually, cover a wise and insightful outlook into people and situations, sometimes catching those who misjudge his intelligence off guard. Barney is often depicted as having grandiose opinions of his ability as a law enforcement officer, resulting in embarrassing situations which Andy wisely covers without hurting Barney's already sensitive nature. Later shows, particularly those after Barney's departure, depict Andy as more serious and stressed by the situations arising in each episode. Humor comes more from Andy's consternation with others than from his easy-going manner.