If beloved deputy Barney Fife and precocious grade-schooler Opie Taylor appeared like household on “The Andy Griffith Show,” it might be as a result of the actors truly have been.
Ron Howard, who began his profession in present enterprise enjoying the son of Andy Griffith’s sheriff character on the Nineteen Sixties sitcom, stated he not too long ago discovered he and Knotts are distant cousins.
Now higher recognized for his work behind the digital camera on movies like “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13,” Howard, 71, shared a late Nineties photograph on his Instagram of a reunion together with his “Andy Griffith” costars.
He shared that Griffith and Knotts had “surprised me with a visit to the set of #Ransom in #Queens.” Howard directed the 1996 Mel Gibson thriller.
Ron Howard, proper, shared a late Nineties photograph of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, heart, visiting him on the set of “Ransom,” including that he not too long ago discovered he and Knotts are distant cousins. (Ron Howard/Instagram)
He added, “It was recently confirmed that Don and I were actually distant cousins!”
Howard was solid as Opie on the present, which ran from 1960 till 1968, when he was simply 5 years outdated.
“I will forever owe a debt to Opie Taylor,” he wrote in his 2021 e-book “The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family,” in accordance with Nearer Weekly. “The experience of inhabiting that character, walking a mile in his Keds, defined my early life.”
He additionally revealed on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” final 12 months that Griffth would kill jokes within the scripts for the present if he thought they have been too “broad.”
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“I will forever owe a debt to Opie Taylor. The experience of inhabiting that character, walking a mile in his Keds, defined my early life.”
“He simply saved saying, ‘The South is plenty funny on its own without having to do slapstick and stuff … He didn’t’ like ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ as a result of they have been doing sketch principally. Because of this, I don’t know if there have been different single digital camera exhibits that sort of held that tone. Possibly ‘The Real McCoys’ a little bit, but they didn’t have Don Knotts.”
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A young Ron Howard on the set of “The Andy Griffith Show” with Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, right. (CBS via Getty Images)
He also revealed that Knotts and Griffith would often improvise the scenes where the sheriff’s division coworkers would shoot the breeze if the present was a bit quick that week.
“The show really does endure, and it’s actually on all the time,” Howard advised O’Brien.
“How lucky was I to grow up in that situation where, in fact, the environment was set up for actors to, not improvise, but participate, make suggestions, things like that,” he stated. “And even as a 6-year-old, I mean my dad was having to read the lines at the read through, and I was just kind of sitting there at first, but later when I started to learn to read and so forth, I was in it.”
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Howard remembered one other time when he was 7 years outdated and taking pictures a scene for the second season. He stated he advised the director he didn’t suppose a child would say one in all his strains the best way it was written, and the director advised him to say no matter method he felt made sense.
Ron Howard with the solid of “The Andy Griffith Show,” together with Griffith, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors. (Silver Display Assortment/Getty Photographs)
“I just felt this surge of being involved in something,” he stated of the childhood second.
Howard advised O’Brien as he was visibly happy with himself, Griffth requested him, “What are you grinning at, youngin’?” And after Howard advised him it was the primary suggestion of his that the present had taken, Griffth waited a beat, then jokingly answered, “Well, it was the first one that was any damn good. Now, let’s rehearse the scene!”
Howard additionally revealed that on the primary episode of the present, his father advised Griffith that Opie was being written as a “wisea–,” suggesting, “What if he actually respected his father?”
Don Knotts, seen right here in 1965, handed away in 2006 at age 81. (Silver Display Assortment/Getty Photographs)
Griffith later advised Howard, as an grownup, that after that, he went again to the writers and advised them to jot down Opie like an actual youngster.
Howard additionally advised Nearer Weekly in 2018 that Griffith and Knotts made it simple to be artistic in entrance of the digital camera as a result of they shared a mutual respect for one another’s expertise.
“Andy was the world’s greatest audience for Don,” he recalled. “Don had Andy literally in tears once a week. [I learned] about the spirit of collaboration, which I’ve carried with me forever.”
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Final 12 months, Knotts’ daughter Karen Knotts advised Fox Information Digital that one of many largest misconceptions about her father and Griffith was that they have been rivals.
“They weren’t rivals at all,” she defined. “There was no rivalry. Andy was my dad’s biggest fan. He was a mentor to him his whole life, and they loved each other dearly.”
Andy Griffith, proper, seen right here with Don Knotts, died in 2012 at age 86. (Hulton Archive/Getty Photographs)
“Some people had problems with Andy Griffith because he liked to do things his way,” she shared. “But he and my dad had an unbelievably close relationship. They understood each other and their need for perfection when it came to performing. Andy would always tell people, ‘Don is the funny one.’”
Comic Karen Knotts attends The Groundlings’ fiftieth Anniversary Social gathering at Jonathan Membership on Oct. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Photographs)
Karen beforehand advised Fox Information Digital that assembly Howard was “my favorite memory from the set.”
“He was just so different from any other kid I knew,” she shared. “We’re the same age and I thought he was just so mature. He always had this little tiny transistor radio. He would show it to me, and he was so involved in the technical aspects of it. I guess it was kind of a foreshadowing of his interest to direct. But he was very friendly, and it meant a lot to me.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Knotts’ daughter for remark about Howard’s information.
Fox Information Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
