Inventory of the Andy Griffith Papers, 1949-1997

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

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Biographical Note

Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy, N.C., on 1 June 1926. He attended the University of North Carolina and was graduated in 1949. As an actor, he quickly gained fame through his portrayal of an illiterate hillbilly in the Broadway and film versions of No Time for Sergeants (1955). He also used this character in monologues such as What it Was Was Football and in appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. Although he continued to appear in films (A Face in the Crowd in 1956 and Onionhead in 1958), it was through his portrayal of a small-town sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) on television that Griffith achieved legendary status, particularly in the South. Griffith also starred in such short-lived television series as The Headmaster (1970) and The New Andy Griffith Show (1970). His dramatic series Matlock was successful in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Collection Overview

Primarily films, videotapes, and scripts from Andy Griffith's television shows including The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock. There are also films of Griffith's motion pictures A Face in the Crowd, No Time for Sergeants, and Onionhead; photographs of Griffith; letters from Griffith to his parents while a student at the University of North Carolina; record albums by and belonging to Griffith; and other items.

Arrangement of Collection

Items Separated

Detailed Description of the Collection

Films of television programs and movies in which Griffith appeared, and other miscellaneous films. Included is an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which Griffith does not appear.

Class of '49 is a television documentary from 1969 about the successes of the University of North Carolina's Class of 1949, of which Griffith was a member, and he was profiled. The interview is about Griffith's being honored with Andy Griffith Day by the state legislature upon his return from Hollywood after making A Face in the Crowd. S.O.F. and Silent Charlie is a collection of introductions to various Million Dollar Movies shown on Channel 5. Griffith appears in none of them. Texas pictures the filming of a movie set in the desert, and Griffith appears.

A letter, 8 June 1949, from Ernest L. Mackie, Dean of Student Awards and Distinctions at the University of North Carolina, to Andy Griffith, congratulating him on a successful career as a student, and four books owned and marked by Griffith, as follows:

Videotape of Andy Griffith: Hollywood's Homespun Hero, an A&E Biography about Andy Griffith that aired on 1 September 1997.

I Love to Tell the Story [sound recording]: [25 timeless hymns] / Andy Griffith. Brentwood, Tenn. : Sparrow Corp., 1996.

Included are publicity pictures from The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock as well as copies of photographs of Griffith as a child and young man.

Scripts from Andy Griffith's television shows; videotapes of those shows; and record albums, either by or belonging to Andy Griffith.

Includes "Headmaster," "This is your Life," "Uptown-Downtown Show," "The Don Knotts Show," "The Male Animal," "Daddy and Them," "Diagnosis Murder," and "One More White Christmas."