Andy Griffith wasn't TV's only sheriff
Actor Andy Griffith in his uniform as Sheriff Andy Taylor on, “The Andy Griffith Show,” in the late 1960s. Griffith died July 3, 2012, according to various media reports. He was 86.
Newsday's obituary for Andy Griffith
Credit: Getty Images
Andy Griffith's death July 3 brings to mind not only TV's most beloved Southern sheriff, but memorable others in his wake: One bumbling fool, one con man, one comical redneck, one evolving redneck -- and could it be . . . Satan?
During the Jimmy Carter years, in the town of Clinton Corners, Ga., Chief Mobey reminisced about the good ol' (boy) days while coming to grips with his new citified, college-educated, African-American police sergeant (Kene Holliday).
The Sgt. Bilko of Orly County, Ga., was hungry like the wolf when it came to money, but always devising harebrained schemes.
And right about then, them Duke boys started hightailing it across Hazzard County, with ol' Rosco chasing the General Lee till he up and scuffed his patrol car in a stand of Georgia oak. Oh, that Rosco!
In the TV spinoff of the 1967 movie for which Rod Steiger won an Academy Award, O'Connor essentially played an evolving Archie Bunker in the New South. His Sparta, Miss., lawman reflected changing attitudes toward race, with Gillespie eventually marrying an African-American councilwoman (Denise Nicholas) -- with job-ending consequences.
In Trinity, S.C., the local law appears to be backed up by a higher authority -- or, well, a lower one. Ten-year-old Caleb Temple (played by Lucas Black) is the progeny of Buck's rape of the boy's now-dead mother. And the satanic sheriff killed Caleb's sister (Sarah Paulson) -- who is now a ghost trying to keep her brother from the brimstone path. Maybe one of Aunt Bee's casseroles would help?
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