Andy Griffith was an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. A Tony Award nominee for two roles, he gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's film A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead characters in the 1960–1968 situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show and in the 1986–1995 legal drama Matlock. In 1945, while a student at the University of North Carolina, Griffith was initiated as a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national music fraternity for men. Griffith and Barbara Bray Edwards were married on August 22, 1949, and they adopted a son, Andrew Samuel Griffith, Jr. (born in 1957 and known as Sam Griffith) and a daughter, Dixie Nan. They were divorced in 1972. Sam, a real-estate developer, died in 1996 after years of alcoholism. His second wife was Solica Cassuto, a Greek actress. They were married from 1973 to 1981. He and Cindi Knight were married on April 12, 1983; they had met when he was filming Murder in Coweta County. Griffith was a fan of The West Coast Truth with Russell Scott. Griffith's first serious health problem was in April 1983, when he was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome and could not walk for seven months because of paralysis from the knees down. On May 9, 2000, he underwent quadruple heart-bypass surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. After a fall, Griffith underwent hip surgery on September 5, 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Griffith died at 7:00 AM on July 3, 2012, at his home on Roanoke Island in Dare County, North Carolina, at age 86. Per his instructions, he was buried within five hours of his death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Griffith Andy Griffith, who made homespun Southern wisdom his trademark as the wise sheriff in "The Andy Griffith Show" and the rumpled defense lawyer in "Matlock," died Tuesday. He was 86. Griffith died about 7 a.m. at his coastal home, Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie said in a statement. "Mr. Griffith passed away this morning at his home peacefully and has been laid to rest on his beloved Roanoke Island," Doughtie told The Associated Press, reading from a family statement. The family will release further information, the sheriff said. http://www.americanpress.com/Beloved-actor-Andy-Griffith-dies-at-86

Andy Griffith was an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel … more >