Andy Griffith - Dead at 86

Logandyer45 · 03-07-2012, 10:48 PM

The American actor Andy Griffith died today, Tuesday 3rd July, at the age of 86. He died at his house at approximately 7am this morning.

Andy was a great actor who sparked off a great career in the "Andy Griffith Show". Griffith started his acting career with comic monologues and then moved gradually into the movies. He debuted in 1957's "A Face in the Crowd" with Patricia Neal, but it was the widower sheriff Andy Taylor on "the Andy Griffith Show" that really got his start.

Over the years, Griffith won many awards and was honoured even more - beginning with a People Choice Awards for "Matlock" in 1987. He was once quoted as saying "the laywer role is my favorite". The actor, who also sang in his TV productions, won a Grammy in 1996 for his inspirational album "I Love to Tell the Story". Griffith was also awarded a Presidental Medal of Freedom in 2005. A statute of Griffith, in character as Andy Taylor, and holding a fishing pole and the hand of Ron Howard's Opie, stands in Raleigh, NC.

Griffith was born in 1926 in North Carolina, where he stayed until he earned his music degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. One of Griffith's earliest hits was a football monolouge in 1957. The actor was married three times and is survived by his wife and his daughter Dixie. His son, Andrew Jr., (known as Sam) died in 1996. Our thoughts go out to all Griffith's family and fans.

I made this article. It's on the main page. I found out from MSNBC.