Well Shazam, Goober is Dead

eorge Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was 83. A press release from Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made. Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character — a service station attendant — on "Hee Haw" from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993. "America has grown up with me," Lindsey said in an Associated Press interview in 1985. "Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol' Goober." He joined "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1964 when Jim Nabors, portraying Gomer Pyle, left the program. Goober Pyle, who had been mentioned on the show as Gomer's cousin, thus replaced him. "At that time, we were the best acting ensemble on TV. The scripts were terrific. Andy is the best script constructionist I've ever been involved with. And you have to lift your acting level up to his; he's awfully good." Although he was best known as Goober, Lindsey had other roles during a long TV career. Earlier, he often was a "heavy" and once shot Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke." His other TV credits included roles on "M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H," ''The Wonderful World of Disney," ''CHIPs," ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour," ''The Real McCoys," ''Rifleman," ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," ''Twilight Zone" and "Love American Style."

http%3A//abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/george-lindsey-goober-pyle-dies-16290197



• Well gooolllly! RIP Goob.

• Well, Gawww--AWW--awwwlly.

  RIP

• So sad. RIP

• No mention of ever having a wife and kids. Was Goober gay?

• George "Goober" Lindsey was the most sophisticated man in the world!

  Rose Nylund

• Yes, he was R4. He shared a home in Myrtle beach with Floyd the barber for many years.

• I like how the obit included a favorite joke: "A football coach, holding a football, asks his quarterback, 'Son, can you pass this?' The player says, 'Coach, I don't even think I can swallow it.'"

• MSNBC says Goober was 76 years old AND 83.

  http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/06/11565409-george-goober-lindsey-of-andy-griffith-show-and-hee-haw-fame-dead-at-76?lite

  He was both?

• My elderly neighbor met him once in Nashville and got his autograph on a napkin, signed to me! It was so bizarre and she thought I would be really excited to have it. It was a sweet gesture and I took it with appreciation but wondered why she gave it to me (I was home from college at the time). I later realized he was likely gay and wondered if she was trying to give me some kind of signal that she was cool with it or understood about me.

• How were Goober and Gomer related?

• He was 83.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lindsey

• Goober and Gomer were cousins. "Shazam!" and "Golly!" were both Gomer-isms. Goober really didn't have a catchphrase, did he?

• No catchphrase, R12, just his Jughead hat.

  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Goober_01.jpg

• His Jughead hat was fucking cool.

  Anonymous

• The Jughead cap is called a Whoopee cap.

  http://www.lileks.com/oldads/30s/4.html

• Bill Maher discussed once how funny it was that all of the men in Mayberry were single. Andy was single, Barney was single, Gomer was single, Goober was single, Floyd the barber was single... Who else?!!!

• [quote]How were Goober and Gomer related? Weren't they in Highlights?

• George Lindsey wasn't gay. He was married for decades and had two children. His wife left him a few years ago and he was reported to be shocked and devastated when it happened. Howard McNear, who played Floyd the Barber, was also married with kids...though SCTV and other shows parodied him as being gay due to his mannerisms on the show. Don Knotts was married with kids, but got divorced and was said to be a real horndog, who hit on every woman he worked with. (Obviously this was after he achieved great success. Can't imagine him having much luck based on looks alone.) Andy was married three times in real life, but all his kids were adopted. There are many stories about him having no chemistry with any of the actresses who played his various girlfriends on the show; they finally settled on Helen Crump, but their relationship was often more contentious than romantic. I would not be surprised if he was actually gay in real life. Jim Nabors, who played Gomer Pyle, was definitely gay. (And Andy "discovered" him at a nightclub!)

• The show was before my time and I don't know much about Jim Nabors, but was he really involved with Rock Hudson?

• R12, not sure it was a catchphrase, but Goober often said "I'll be dogged" in a quiet voice when he heard something surprising.

• [quote]Andy was married three times in real life, but all his kids were adopted. There are many stories about him having no chemistry with any of the actresses who played his various girlfriends on the show; they finally settled on Helen Crump, but their relationship was often more contentious than romantic. I would not be surprised if he was actually gay in real life. I have gay friends who know and have worked with Andy Griffith over the years. They say he gives off an asexual vibe more than anything. Definitely not gay, though. He can be difficult to work with. He's not a prima donna; he's just very professional and expects everyone else to work at his level. For that reason, he comes across as "cold" to people who expect him to be as folksy as Sheriff Andy Taylor. In real life he wears really thick Coke-bottle glasses. People pass him on the street and have no idea who he is.

• ...a busted goober...

  Murray%20Slaughter

• "Andy was single, Barney was single, Gomer was single, Goober was single, Floyd the barber was single..." How could you forget the most closeted character in Mayberry - Howard Sprague?

  Mia

• In real life, Jack Dodson (Howard Sprague) was also married with a couple daughters. I've heard that one reason most of the characters on any sitcom are single is because it gives the writers more options for storylines (dates, romances, etc.) Married characters often drag the story down. For example, how many times on the Mary Tyler Moore Show did Murray show up for parties with an excuse that "Marie is visiting her mother" or home with a sick kid or whatever. They brought her on the show occasionally, but generally had Murray live rather independently. Same thing happened a generation before that with Buddy on the Dick Van Dyke Show. He was married to "Pickles," but she never seemed to be around. When they finally included her in one episode, the audience was disappointed.

• Bill was talking about the characters on the show were all single!!!

• I know I read somewhere that George Lindsey once had a problem with Jim Nabors being gay or that Nabors hit on him and it made him uncomfortable. Something to do with homophobia. Anyone ever remember reading that or hearing about it? I guess I could Google it but wouldn't really know what to look for.

• [quote]The show was before my time and I don't know much about Jim Nabors, but was he really involved with Rock Hudson? I heard they were married in Hawaii in a secret forbidden torchlit ceremony! And Richard Chamberlain was their maid of honor.

• His other catchphrase was "Tell him Goober says 'hey.'"

• 1.) the person who post this is an idiot. shazam was gomer's line not goober's 2.) RIP George Linsdey. You will be missed by not only to the Andy Griffeth fan base and the hee-haw fan base, but fans of the future as well.

• I always thought he was kind of cute.

• Why did he wear a hat like Archie's friend?

• Why has this thread been brought again five months after the fact?

• The Nabors/Hudson rumor was the result of a joke wedding invitation sent out by a group of gay frineds who used to host "theme" parties. The thought up ther names of two celebrities who were known to be gay, but would make a very unlikely couple. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett printed a "blind item" about a gay wedding of two celebrities: "One is handsome and strong as the Rock of Gibraltar, and one is a country boy who's like your next door Neighbor."