![]() ![]() According to Closer Weekly, he told pop culture historian Geoffrey Mark that directing Bavier was “like stepping on a landmine. She was rather self-contained and was not part of the general hijinks that centered upon Andy on the set.”ĭirector Howard Morris went further. “Highly professional and a fine comedienne, fine actress with very individual character. She was “a rather remote lady,” Leonard told Kelly. In Richard Kelly’s 1981 book “The Andy Griffith Show,” co-creator and executive producer Sheldon Leonard told Kelly that Bavier was not exactly warm and fuzzy. ![]() Howard may recall Bavier as nurturing, but the actress could be tough to work with as far as the other adults were concerned. Would that the same be said of you and me someday.Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: The Andy Griffith Show Reunion: Back to Mayberry () On ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ Bavier Could Be Tough to Work With The words on Aunt Bee’s tombstone read: “To live in the hearts of those left behind is not to die.” Every weekday at five o’clock.Īfter all these years, I’ve never gotten over him. I was a fatherless kid who needed someone to pay attention to me, to love me, to teach me, to make me laugh, to show me how to be a man. Our station played two “Andy” episodes every evening after school. I am a lot like the other people here today Andy Griffith practically raised me. Because say what you will about us, but our country’s children know Andy Griffith, Jim Nabors, Frances Bavier, Don Knotts, Ron Howard, and Betty Lynn. Much the same way you’d behave at the graveside of a loved one or a close relative.Īnd it makes me feel pretty good to be an American right about now. I watch the children stand reverently before the gravestone of everyone’s favorite aunt. “To my kids, it was like the show was brand new, like it’d just come out.” “We plan our whole days around that show,” Melinda says. After the very first episode the children were spellbound. Like in the old days.”Ī local station out of Hutchison-Wichita played Andy Griffith in all its black-and-white glory. “So,” Melinda explains, “I went to the store and bought a television antenna. The family had to cancel their movie streaming services to save money. It all started a few years ago when her husband lost his job. Melinda says her kids are religious fans of the show. And it’s not like Aunt Bee is gonna eat them, since, you know, she’s dead.” “My kids all wanted to bring their own jars,” says Melinda (age 44). One of them is carrying a jar of pickles. They have been hanging out in the nearby town of Mount Airy all week, hometown of Andy Griffith. “Dear, Aunt Bee… You raised me… I love you.” It was signed by a woman from Marietta, Ohio.Īnother vehicle pulls up. Among the brands represented are: Best Maid, Famous Dave’s Spicy, Wickles, Claussen, Mount Olive, and Walmart’s flagship brand Great Value. On Aunt Bee’s tomb are a few handwritten postcards, a couple dozen pennies, dragon tears, various trinkets, and I count six jars of pickles. The gravestone looks just like the headstone of, well… Your favorite aunt. There’s nothing remarkable about the marker. You’d never guess that this particular plot belonged to one of America’s most beloved celebrities. The Oakwood Cemetery is a nondescript burial place, nestled within the black gums and post oaks of the Old North State, with headstones stretching back toward the horizon. “Depending on if it’s tourist season or not.” “Sometimes there are ten or twenty of’em,” says Billy. ![]() And they say that each time they come, there are multiple pickle jars sitting on the gravemarker. “Period.”īilly and Roger have visited this cemetery twice before. “Best show ever,” says Roger between puffs. His flavor du jour is tropical cherry, and he is puffing so frequently that we are all able to enjoy this flavor with him. “Mine, too,” says Billy’s brother, Roger, who is busy taking Billy’s picture with his phone camera. “That’s my favorite episode,” says Billy. ![]() “Kerosene cucumbers” they were called in the episode. The pickles are a salute to season two, episode 11, “The Pickle Story.” In the episode, Aunt Bee makes pickles that taste so bad they could take the paint off navy ships. “I think it’s just a form of respect,” says Billy, age 73, from Bentonville, Arkansas.īilly traveled 840 miles to Siler City in his 2007 Ford Ranger, which is more rust-colored than green, to deliver a single jar of Kosher Dill Snack’mms to the grave of Frances Bavier, the actress who played Aunt Bee on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Since that fateful day, nobody has found a good reason to stop leaving pickles. Although some claim they were store pickles. Legend states that the pickles were probably homemade. The first jar of pickles to appear on Aunt Bee’s grave in Siler City, North Carolina, showed up in in 1989, the year she died. ![]()
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