Los Angeles (CNN) -- George Lindsey, the actor who portrayed the country-bumpkin mechanic Goober Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show," died Sunday after a brief illness, his family
said. He was 83.
Lindsey's character Goober Pyle joined the hit sitcom in 1964 as the cousin of Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. When the show ended four seasons later, Lindsey continued as
Goober for three years on the sequel series "Mayberry R.F.D."
"George often told me his fondest memories of his life in show business were the years he spent working on 'The Andy Griffith Show' and 'Mayberry R.F.D.'" said Andy Griffith. "They
were for me, too."
Co-star Ron Howard remembered Lindsey as "warm, intelligent and lovable," in a post on Twitter.
"He generated lots of laughs & raised a lot of money for Special Olympics," Howard tweeted.
The Fairfield, Alabama, native never escaped the stereotyping that the Goober Pyle role brought him. Lindsey embraced it for another 20 years as a regular on TV's "Hee Haw," by
wearing the familiar hat and clothes of Goober, and carried the character on the road for decades of stand-up comedy shows.
Lindsey auditioned for the Gomer Pyle role when the show started in 1962, but he was edged out by Nabors, the family's obituary said. When he saw that first episode on TV featuring
Nabors as Gomer, he kicked his television screen because he was upset for losing the part.
"Not only that, but now I didn't have a TV to watch 'Ben Casey' on," Lindsey wrote in his autobiography. He was finally added to the cast as Goober, eventually taking over the job of
Lindsey turned to acting after a stint in the U.S. Air Force and then as a high school teacher. He studied at the American Theater Wing in New York for two years while working as a
comedian in nightclubs and coffeehouses. An agent from the William Morris Agency saw his work and signed him.
That representation led to stage roles, including the production of "All American" at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre.
Lindsey moved to Los Angeles, where his work was mostly in westerns, such as "The Rifleman" and "Gunsmoke." He also acted in the "The Real McCoys," "The Twilight Zone" and
several Disney productions. He was cast in three episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Hour."
An obituary released by the Nashville funeral home handling Lindsey's arrangements said the actor often joked about what he wanted written on his tombstone.
"One choice goes for the joke: 'I told you I was sick.' The other goes for the heart: 'I hope I made you laugh.' "
George Lindsey, the Alabama-born actor and comedian best known for playing the good-natured if none-too-bright gas station attendant Goober on three television series, died on
Sunday in Nashville at 83 survived by his son George Lindsey Jr., daughter Camden Jo Lindsey Gardner, and two grandsons. George Lindsey, TV’s Goober Pyle.
His death was announced by the Marshall Donnelly Combs Funeral Home in Nashville. Mr. Lindsey had been in poor health after a stroke in March.
He introduced the character of Goober — the quintessential grinning hayseed, equal parts annoying and endearing — on “The Andy Griffith Show,” the long-running situation comedy
set in the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry. When Jim Nabors’s character, the similarly likable but naïve Gomer Pyle, was given his own series in 1964, Mr. Lindsey joined the
Griffith show as Goober Pyle, Gomer’s cousin.
Goober outlived “The Andy Griffith Show” by many years. When Mr. Griffith left after the 1967-68 season to pursue a movie career, the setting and some of the characters were
retained, and the show was reinvented as “Mayberry R.F.D.,” with Ken Berry as the star. Mr. Lindsey was one of several actors who continued in their old roles.
The character later found yet another home. Shortly after “Mayberry R.F.D.” was canceled in 1971, Mr. Lindsey joined the cast of “Hee Haw,” the syndicated variety show that blended
country music and hokey comedy. He was once again a goofy gas station attendant, and he once again wore the beanie that was Goober’s trademark, although his castmates usually
addressed him on camera as George. He remained with “Hee Haw” for more than 20 years.
George Smith Lindsey was born in Fairfield, Ala., on Dec. 17, 1928, the only child of George Ross Lindsey and the former Alice Smith, and grew up in Jasper, Ala. (Many sources
wrongly give the year of his birth as 1935.) He attended Florence State Teachers College, now the University of North Alabama, where he played quarterback on the football team and
acted in campus theatrical productions, and graduated in 1952 with a degree in biology and physical education.
After spending three years in the Air Force he moved to New York, where he studied at the American Theater Wing and performed as a comedian in local nightclubs. In 1962 he
appeared on Broadway in the short-lived musical “All American,” but his acting career did not gain momentum until he and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he was soon
Mr. Lindsey, who had lived in Nashville for many years, is survived by his companion, Anne Wilson; his son, George Jr.; his daughter, Camden Jo Lindsey Gardner; and two grandsons.
His marriage to Joyanne Herbert ended in divorce.
The character of Goober was not to everyone’s taste. Some critics considered Mr. Lindsey’s portrayal of a rural Southerner a demeaning caricature. Mr. Lindsey disagreed.
“Goober is every man,” he told The Associated Press in 1985. “Everyone finds something to like about ol’ Goober.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — George Lindsey, who made a TV career as a grinning service station attendant named Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was
83.
The Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness.
Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character
on "Hee Haw" from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.
"America has grown up with me," Lindsey said in an Associated Press interview in 1985. "Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol' Goober."
He joined "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1964 when Jim Nabors, portraying Gomer Pyle, left the program. Goober Pyle, who had been mentioned on the show as Gomer's cousin,
replaced him.
"At that time, we were the best acting ensemble on TV," Lindsey once told an interviewer. "The scripts were terrific. Andy is the best script constructionist I've ever been involved with.
And you have to lift your acting level up to his; he's awfully good."
In a statement released through the funeral home, Griffith said, "George Lindsey was my friend. I had great respect for his talent and his human spirit. In recent years, we spoke often
by telephone. Our last conversation was a few days ago ... I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our eighties, we were not afraid to say, `I love you.' That was the last thing
George and I had to say to each other. `I love you.'"
Although he was best known as Goober, Lindsey had other roles during a long TV career. Earlier, he often was a "heavy" and once shot Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke."
His other TV credits included roles on "MASH," `'The Wonderful World of Disney," `'CHIPs," `'The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour," `'The Real McCoys," `'Rifleman," `'The Alfred
Hitchcock Hour," `'Twilight Zone" and "Love American Style."
Reflecting on his career, he said in 1985: "There's a residual effect of knowing I've made America laugh. I'm not the only one, but I've contributed something."
He had movie roles, too, appearing in "Cannonball Run II" and "Take This Job and Shove It." His voice was used in animated Walt Disney features including "The Aristocats," `'The
Rescuers" and "Robin Hood."
Lindsey was born in Jasper, Ala., the son of a butcher. He received a bachelor of science degree from Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) in 1952
after majoring in physical education and biology and playing quarterback on the football team.
After spending three years in the Air Force, he worked one year as a high school baseball and basketball coach and history teacher near Huntsville, Ala.
In 1956, he attended the American Theatre Wing in New York City and began his professional career on Broadway, appearing in the musicals "All American" and "Wonderful Town."
He moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s and then to Nashville in the early 1990s.
"There's no place in the United States I can go that they don't know me. They may not know me, but they know the character," he told The Tennessean in 1980.
At that time, he said the Griffith show "was the first soft rural comedy with a moral."
"We physically and mentally became those people when we got to the set."
He did some standup comedy – ending the show by tap and break dancing.
One of his jokes: "A football coach, holding a football, asks his quarterback, `Son, can you pass this?' The player says, `Coach, I don't even think I can swallow it.'"
Lindsey devoted much of his spare time to raising funds for the Alabama Special Olympics. For 17 years, he sponsored a celebrity golf tournament in Montgomery, Ala., that raised
money for the mentally disabled.
The University of North Alabama awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1992, and he was affectionately called "Doctor Goober" by acquaintances after that.
Funeral arrangements were still being made.
George Lindsey, best remembered for his role of Goober Pyle – cousin of Gomer Pyle – on CBS's rural sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, died Sunday morning in Nashville, where he
Andy Griffith, 85, said in a statement that accompanied the Lindsay family's announcement of the death, "George Lindsey was my friend. I had great respect for his talent and his
human spirit."
Griffith also said the two often spoke by phone. "Our last conversation was a few days ago. We would talk about our health, how much we missed our friends who passed before us
and usually about something funny. I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our 80s, we were not afraid to say, 'I love you.' That was the last thing George and I had to say to
each other. 'I love you.' "
An Alabama native who was raised by his grandparents, Lindsey got the acting bug at 14 when he saw a performance of the musical Oklahoma!. He was a school athlete who also
displayed a sharp sense of humor, and he went to college to become a teacher, according to the Tennessean.
While in the Air Force stationed in Orlando, Fla., he met and, in 1955, married Joyanne Herbert, and they had two children. The marriage lasted until 1991.
Before his long TV career, which also included another comic stint on CBS's Hee Haw, Lindsey studied acting in New York and played in stage productions there.
His survivors, the newspaper reports, include son George Lindsey, Jr., daughter Camden Jo Lindsey Gardner, two grandsons and his companion of many years, Anne Wilson.
American actor George Lindsey smiling for the television series, 'Mayberry R.F.D.,' 1968. Lindsey died May 6, 2012 after a brief illness. He was 83. He player beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and also starred in "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971.
Lindsey was born in Fairfield, Ala., on Dec. 17, 1928.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/337762/20120506/goober-pyle-dead-george-lindsey-andy-griffith.htm
