The Darlings - Darling Family Members

Darling Family Members

• Briscoe Darling Jr. — The head of the Darling household, he acted as the spokesman for the group. He was also the leader of the family band, in which he played a ceramic jug. Briscoe was played by Denver Pyle, who was best known for his roles as "Buck Webb" on The Doris Day Show and "Uncle Jesse" on The Dukes of Hazzard.

• Charlene Darling later Mrs. Dudley A. Wash — Briscoe's only daughter was played by Maggie Peterson . She was an attractive but naïve young, blonde woman who often caused trouble for Sheriff Taylor and his family with her flirtatious behavior and her belief in mountain lore. She was also the original object of desire for Ernest T. Bass. She loved her husband, "Dud," but divorced him, because he looked at another woman. She then married Sheriff Taylor in a covert mountain ceremony in which Andy unknowingly took part. The marriage was later annulled through the efforts of Deputy Fife's research into the customs of mountain marriage protocol, through an elaborate staging of a horse and rider passing by the couple. Charlene later had a baby daughter named "Andelina," whom she tried to betrothe to Andy's son Opie, as was customary in her family. She occasionally sang when her father and brothers played music.

• The Darling Boys — Briscoe's four sons, played by the bluegrass group The Dillards, almost never spoke, except when singing in the band. They had an oafish appearance but were very talented musicians. The names of the boys were somewhat contradictory from episode to episode: The original script of "Mountain Wedding" listed their names as Oether (pronounced Othor), Jebbin, Ward, and Frankie (although only Oether and Jebbin were ever used onscreen), but in a later episode, Andy refers to them as Mitch, Dean, Rodney, and Doug—the real first names of the members of The Dillards. However, they are generally referred to simply as "the boys," collectively. They were characterized by their silent, emotionless presence, and by their instrumentation in the family band: (Billy Ray Lathum) (Doug Dillard), guitar (Rodney Dillard), mandolin (Dean Webb) and bass (Mitch Jayne). When they played, one usually sang lead and the others provided harmonies, while their father played rhythm on the jug. In a running gag, Andy addresses them, and they return only a blank stare. Thus greeted in "Mountain Wedding," Andy remarked to Briscoe "The boys are talkative today." Completely missing the irony, Briscoe admitted "They's all keyed up" (over Ernest T. Bass's antics). Another time was when Charlene had a baby (Andelina) and Andy said "You boys must be proud to be uncles." They didn't respond. Briscoe answered "They all choked up." The only lines ever spoken by the Darling boys occur in the jail scene of the episode "The Darlings Are Coming." Dean can be heard to say "About to pop" and Doug says "Great beans, Aunt Bee." Another trademark was that Mitch Jayne's character always had a pipe in his mouth.

• Dudley A. "Dud" Wash — Charlene's fiance and later husband, Dud had served three years in the U.S. Army where he achieved the rank of Private First Class. He had been betrothed to Charlene since the age of five. Dud was originally portrayed by Hoke Howell as a well-mannered country boy. However, in Dud's final appearance, episode #121, "Divorce Mountain Style," Howell was curiously replaced by Bob Denver. Denver's portrayal was more along the lines of a wily, scrappy mountain man, akin to Ernest T. Bass, in contrast to Dud's original "good ol' boy" persona. At a 1995 convention, actor Hoke Howell explained the replacement as CBS's attempt to make Bob Denver a more familiar face, in order to promote his upcoming show, Gilligan's Island, despite the fact that Denver previously played Maynard G. Krebs on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Dud was absent from the Darling's later appearances.

The Darlings made their final appearance on The Andy Griffith Show in episode #193, "The Darling Fortune." They made a total of six appearances throughout the show's run.