If you were Andy Griffith, would you rather be loved or respected? Because the man in charge was more concerned with the latter. There’s only one name in the title of The Andy Griffith Show, and ol’ Ange took his role seriously. His was the face that kept everyone employed, and he didn’t intend to have that authority questioned.
Even folks as hapless as Goober well kept in check on a tight leash on the set of The Andy Griffith Show. Luckily, years later, George Lindsey was the first Mayberry resident to release a tell-all memoir. There are plenty of fun, revealing details throughout Goober in a Nutshell. Among them is the telling disclosure that Andy ran a very tight ship.
Specifically, Lindsey said cast members “lived in fear” of Griffith while they were on set.
“Most of us were deathly afraid of Andy,” Lindsey wrote. “We were all scared to make a move. If Andy thought something was funny, then it was funny to us. He literally controlled every aspect of the show.”
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and we’re not talking about the beanie thing Goober always had on.
It was no easy feat creating and starring in The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith shifted the culture, but it came with a price. The cost of a decades-long impact might have been a reputation as a tough leader.
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