What Was Aunt Bee's First Name?

Here actual name was "Honey"

Actually it was Beatrice. Her full name was Beatrice Taylor

Her name was Barbra

Barbara PLEASE!

[quote]Actually it was Beatrice.

Then why is she Aunt BEE? and not Aunt Bea? Explain that?

It was Bee-yonce. She agreed not to sue for infringement after she gave the Destiny's Child vocalist the finger and the singer put a ring on it.

Actually, R5, it was short for Beelzebub, but after Clara turned up hailing Satan in Rosemary's Baby, the producers decided that it was best to keep Aunt Bee's Satanic connections under wraps.

R6, that Knowles creature could never even come close to holding a candle to Aunt Bee. Shame on you.

R5, LOL. Ask Opie. I have no idea why they spelled it like that. Maybe they felt people would mispronounce it if they spelled it Bea.

It wasn't Aunt "Bea", it was Aunt " B" as in BITCH.

Happened to catch one the other day where they were chastising her -- for wearing, bam bam BAAAAAM... a wig! A WIG!!! Was there a time when that was actually frowned upon? It had a happy ending, of course, but the "Be Yourself" message they were hinting at was pissing me off. Imagine it now and Aunt Bee gets a Beyonce weave.

She drank a lot off camera and the family and everyone one else in Mayberry knew she was an old boozebag.

But Griffith shortened her nickname for television since you couldn't have a character named "Aunt Boozebag" on primetime TV during the family hours.

Bullshit, Frances Beavier was the class act, it was the other PWTs on that show that dragged her good name in the mud, to discredit her to make themselves look better.

Take it from someone who knows, she was PURE class.

Perhaps Opie was the one who spelled it "Bee." As a kid that would be the only "B" he'd be familiar with.

It really wasn't Bumble?

How do you get Jim from James or Bill from William OP?

r16

To stupid to google or to live.

R17

Too stupid to spell "too."

The show had a kid named "Opie" and you're worried about Aunt Bee (Bea)?

r18

A typo is not the same as too stupid to google. Much, much worse. Thanks for playing but time for you to take your antiretrovirals gramps.

Opie is a name. Just because you never heard of it, don't paint your white racist brush with that shit.

Opie Cates: famous band leader

Opie Read: famous Nashville journalist.

or John Opie: famous painter

Southerners use last names as first names a lot.

For that matter do we know his name was Opie? And not a nickname like O.P. just initials?

[quote]But Griffith shortened her nickname for television since you couldn't have a character named "Aunt Boozebag" on primetime TV during the family hours

My coworker just came into my office to find out why I was laughing so hard. Luckily I had time to minimize the screen. I told him I got a funny email from one of the district managers (highly unlikely). He just walked away, shaking his head.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

R17, you have issues. How do you live with so much rage?

She shot her eye out as a child, so her nickname was BB. When she got older, her friends just called her "B", and it stuck. I read that in Secret Origins of the Mayberry Gang. You should read what Goober and Gomer did to each other when they were teenyboppers!

She was a shimmy dancer at a sideshow. The B was for bosoms.

It wasn't Aunt Bee, it Aint Bee.

[quote]A typo is not the same as too stupid to google. Much, much worse.

Hmmm. I'd've thought "too stupid to google" was worse, R20.

Beezus

Re: Previous posts about Opie. I've wondered about his name also. Is Opie a shortened version of a longer name, Oppenheimer perhaps, or something else?

[quote]For that matter do we know his name was Opie? And not a nickname like O.P. just initials?

My grandfather grew up in that part of the world, and he went by his initials, all the males in his family did. Watching it as a child I simply assumed I was looking at O.P. Taylor, and I did wonder what his real name was.

Little known fact: The Andy Griffith Show was the first tv series to feature a main character who was a trans-sexual. Before coming to Mayberry, Aunt Bea was a man named Bertram. He worked in Mount Pilot as an accountant. When he had saved enough money, he flew to Germany, had the operation and came back as a woman. That's why "Aunt Bea" is such a nervous character. Bertram was always nervous that someone from Mount Pilot would recognize him.

The Mayor and Floyd the Barber were a couple, right?

Her first name was Tzeitel

Well, R32, that might explain why Aunt Bertram made such awful pickles. Every one of her kerosene cucumber probably represented a micro-aggression to her.

[quote]that might explain why Aunt Bertram made such awful pickles. Every one of her kerosene cucumber probably represented a micro-aggression to her.

That's also why she went to church all the time. She felt guilty about what she had done and was always trying to atone for her sins.

Opie was short for Opium

Aunt Beemimah. Known for her homemade syrups.

Do you think Captain Beefheart wrote "Ant Man Bee" as a tribute to her?

Poor little Opie was a bit slow, and couldn't pronounce "Bea" without stuttering. So her name was shortened to "B".

Aunt Bee was from Wheeling West Virginia, but that fails to explain why only Goober and Gomer had Southern accents. Andy mentions to his son, PO box, that he was practically raised by Aunt Bee himself.

So does that mean Andy had no mother and father or that his father was too lazy to be a single parent, or that his mother was too lazy?

Remember when "Little Ricky" was Opie's BFF?

A question I've always had:

Why is Andy Taylor the "Sheriff of Mayberry" instead of Mayberry's "Chief of Police?"

I was taught in civics class that the top law enforcement officer of a COUNTY was called the Sheriff. Cities and towns (and Mayberry is definitely the latter) don't have sheriffs. They have police chiefs.

Unless of course Mayberry is the county seat of Mayberry County, North Carolina. Was this fact established?

But still, Mayberry would have a Chief of Police if this were the case and Andy Taylor would be performing his law enforcement duties all over Mayberry County and not just inside the city limits of the Town of Mayberry.

Somebody dig up Griffith and ask him "What the hell?!"

Bee was short for Beaver which is what she ate there in Mayberry.

[quote]I was taught in civics class that the top law enforcement officer of a COUNTY was called the Sheriff. Cities and towns (and Mayberry is definitely the latter) don't have sheriffs. They have police chiefs.

I don't have an answer, but think of the endless Western movies where the town has a sheriff.

And while Andy was clearly working for the City he went out and dealt with rural problems like the Darling Family, so who knows?

Andy learned all of his arts of restraint from her, because she was a true expert at them. When Otis became too good at getting out of his unlocked cell door, Andy would call her up from the jail and ask her to hogtie Otis using her special knots. Soon Clara and Floyd the barber were also asking her to tie them up for sexual purposes. Eventually her expertise made her known from here to Mt. Pilot as "Aunt Bondage," and that was eventually shortened to "Aunt Bee."

R43, "Chief of Police Taylor" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like "Sheriff Taylor" does.

Did the Andy Griffith show ever have ANY black actors appear on it? I can't remember one single episode that did.

I always hated Aunt Bee/Bea. I remember an episode where she wants a flowered bed jacket for her birthday. She goes into raptures over the freaking bed jacket ("it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!) and drops tons of hints about what a perfect gift it would be for some lucky lady. But she's too ladylike and refined to actually come right out and say "I want a flowered bed jacket for my birthday." Andy and Opie, knowing she does a lot of canning, give her what they think is a very useful, practical gift: mason jars. When she sees what they've given her she bursts into tears and runs from the room sobbing, just like a spoiled little kid who doesn't get exactly what she wants. Andy doesn't understand the outburst until Clara comes over and for some reason tells him about Aunt Bee's infatuation with the bed jacket. Of course Bee gets the fucking bed jacket and the show has its obligatory happy ending. Aunt Bee was annoying and stupid; I couldn't stand her!

Was Aunt Bee fond of the hair-pie?

Her real name was Fantasia Sugarplum, but they called her Bee because she was so annoying.

50 responses and everyone got it wrong. She wasn't "Aunt" Bee she was "Ain't" Bee. Try to keep up with the Southern dialect.

Maybe Opie was a frequent poster to the Datalounge.

Her name was Ypir

So, it has never occurred to any of you that the unparalleled prowess of rural North Carolinians in the art of spelling might have accounted for the transformation of 'Bea' into 'Bee?'

R48 I think it wasn't until the later "Mayberry RFD" seasons that they had black actors on. Since it was 1968-71, they were trying to be more "politically correct" for the time (c. 1970) And "Mayberry RFD" was a continuation of "Andy Griffith", taking place after Andy got married, much like "Archie Bunker's Place" followed "All In The Family"

It was short for bestiality. That's why Opie never had any pets. They had a German Shepard originally but Aunt Bee rode that bitch like she was trying to win the Kentucky Derby.

r50 meet r27. Your welcome.

[quote]It was short for bestiality. That's why Opie never had any pets.

That explains the "Opie kills the baby bird" episode. Obviously "B" killed it and blamed it on Opie.

My 89 year-old mother is named Beatrice, and has always gone by Bee, not Bea. In her professional career, she was always known as Bee, and that's the way it was spelled on her business cards, name plates, etc. When I was learning to spell, I asked why she spelled it B-E-E -- "like a bee, buzz-buzz" -- and not B-E-A, as spelled in Beatrice. She shrugged, and replied, "That's just the way we always spelled it, when I was a little girl. Probably because my aunts called me 'Honey Bee.'" (my grandmother was youngest of four sisters).

They were not from the south. Mom was born & grew up in Whittier, CA. Grandma & her sisters were educated Indiana Quakers (one was a WWI army nurse in France), who migrated to Southern California in the early 1920's.

[quote]My 89 year-old mother is named Beatrice, and has always gone by Bee

Was she autistic? Or what her teacher stupid? Surely someone could've pointed out her error in 89 years.

"Aunt Bee" was really Herta Weniger from Silesia and was on the run from Simon Wiesenthal.

[quote] Why is Andy Taylor the "Sheriff of Mayberry" instead of Mayberry's "Chief of Police?"

Because Andy was the county sheriff. Many times he specifically states he is paid for by the county. He says the county can't afford a matron so Aunt Bee handles any female prisoners. And Barney also has to contact the county for his raise.

I can't recall if they every call it Mayberry County or Mayberry is also a town in an unknown county..

The same could be said of you R60, or that you were maybe illiterate.

In the episode with Aunt Bee's pickles she enters them in the County Fair, and the fairgrounds are on the edge of Mayberry (there is a shot of a banner that says "County Fair").

So it must be Mayberry the town located in Mayberry County, and Andy is the sheriff of Mayberry County.

[quote]What Was Aunt Bee's First Name?

Apple.

R37 Like "Zanny The Nanny"?

R9 is correct. One of Miss Mona's girls in "Best Little Whorehouse" pronounced her name be-AT-riss.

Thank you for this thread OP. And please say hello to Opie and Aunt Bee for me when you see them.

Beezelbubette

Rather..... r51 meet r27. Scusi.

BEE fore BIATCH

It wasn't simply "Aunt Bee": her full name was "Aunt Bee Em." She had a thing for scat, and I'm not talking about Ella Fitzgerald, neither.

"Why is Andy Taylor the "Sheriff of Mayberry" instead of Mayberry's "Chief of Police?"

Uh, maybe because its a tv show and that's the way it was written?

Thanks, pinhead @ r73.

Brilliant deduction there!

[quote]Did the Andy Griffith show ever have ANY black actors appear on it? I can't remember one single episode that did.

Racial segregation was in full bloom when TAGS premiered. People forget that more and more Jim Crow segregation laws were passed in the early and mid 20th century than had been on the books in the 19th century. A law forbidding black people and white people to be buried in the same areas of cemeteries was passed in North Carolina only in 1946. Another North Carolin law demanding separate washrooms for black people in factories and plants passed in 1956, just a few years before Andy Griffith went on the air. Stations in the south would not have run TAGS if it had shown racial integration in early sixties.

Thanks for the complimentary, r74.

Beatrice had a thing for black men, so the family called her "Bee" - for "black".

They had a scene early on where Aunt Bee talks about her penchant for hot, hung black men and brags about it to Clara, but CBS censored it.

AUNT BEE: Clara, you know me. I like 'em black, I like 'em big, and I like 'em with a member that hangs down their legs. That's why. my sisters not co named me "Bee"!

CLARA: Stop bragging, Bee, I know you get more dick than I do, so just stop throwing it in my face.

She was in an episode of Make Room for Daddy, which featured Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor and Ron Howard as Opie Taylor. She played a character named Henrietta Perkins. The episode became The Andy Griffith Show and Bavier was cast in the new role of Aunt Bee. Bavier had a love-hate relationship with her most famous role, Aunt Bee, during the run of the show. As a New York actress, she felt her dramatic talents were being overlooked. At the same time, she played Aunt Bee for eight seasons and was the only original cast member to remain with the series in the spin-off, Mayberry R.F.D., staying two additional seasons.[4] In contrast to her affable character, Aunt Bee, Bavier was easily offended and the production staff took a very cautious approach when dealing with her.[citation needed]. Series star Andy Griffith admitted that the two sometimes clashed during the series' run.

In an April 24, 1998 appearance on Larry King Live, Griffith stated that Bavier had phoned him four months before she died, and said she was deeply sorry for being "difficult" during the series' run.

She won the Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy, in 1967.

That's bullshit, Frances was all class, she was Aunt Bee herself. Those are just lies spread by Andy Griffith and Don Knotts to cover up their failed post AGS attempts at a career.

Yes R79, Matlock (1986-95) and Three's Company (1979-84), among many many other guest stints certainly marked Griffith and Knotts as has-beens

Ellie (Elinor Donahue) was only on 12 episodes. Don Knotts once said that Andy Griffith was uncomfortable around women and that's why his romances on the show didn't work out, though I think the teacher, Aneta Corsault or whatever her name is, worked out ok.

I think it's because Corsault was self-contained and confident and held her own in her scenes with Andy even when he was distant and awkward with her - wouldn't look in her face, etc. Closet issue?

I wonder if Elinor Donahue has ever spoken about what went down on. The Andy Griffith Show?

[quote] I wonder if Elinor Donahue has ever spoken about what went down on. The Andy Griffith Show?

Which brings us back to Aunt Bee, who often went down on Clara Edwards.

I remember being weirded out seeing Aunt Bea play a Bad Guy/Villain on an episode of "The Lone Ranger". She even had the same hairstyle.

"Aunt Bea" was Beatice Taylor, and I aughta know what the "Bea" stands for.

I can't believe this thread has 86 replies.

Yeah I guess she was a bitch, by all accounts.

Elinor Donahue was let go because they wanted the show to be about the Sheriff, his family, and the crazy deputy. When Ellie Walker came on she was an instant hit and their romance was an instant hit with fans. Suddenly the fan mail became all about Ellie and Andy as a couple. So Andy Griffith got rid of her so the show could stay on track. They always let Elinor say she was exhausted and didn't fit in on the show. Her not fitting in on the show is ridiculous as nearly all hardcore fans, such as myself, will say her episodes were the best. The reason they kept the Krump was because she was so bland and didn't take over the show. Trivia: The writers and producers of Cheers had Shelley Long study that episodes with Ellie Walker and told her that's what they wanted. A modern Ellie and Andy.

[quote]I can't believe this thread has 86 replies.

You can bite my cherry pie.

I don't believe anyone has mentioned that Aunt Bee appeared in the original version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. She was one of the residents in the boarding house where Michael Rennie (the alien) also rented a room.

And Klaatu told Gort who is roommates with my best bro Robby that Aint Bea gave the best gum job he's had in twelve planetary systems!

Did Aint Bee get the heave-ho from Mayberry RFD? She was Ken Berry's housekeeper for one season. Did she retire or did they deliberately write her out?

Beavis.

These attempts at humor are horrible.

It stands for B-Girl.Its a well kept secret in Hollywood that she was a pioneer of breakdancing.She could really bust-a-move in her day.Sadly,during the Andy Griffith years,she could only bust-a-hip.

----

[quote]Yes [R79], Matlock (1986-95) and Three's Company (1979-84)

Andy Griffith failed with two shows right after leaving "AGS" so yes, he was a big fat failure, It took nearly 20 years for him to find a "time slot" hit. Knotts never amounted to anything but being a second rate player lucky enough to get on a #1 show. If you put anyone in Knotts's place the show would've still been #1 as witnessed by the dreadful Priscilla Barnes.

Some of this shit is seriously funny, r95, I don't care who you are!

I always heard Aunt Bee was lez. Thanks for confirming r84.

Elinore Donahue claimed in 1988, when anorexia was in fashion that she was having problems with the show and was so nervous she was losing weight and getting sick. She said she asked to be let out of her contract.

But who knows, the actress that played Thelma Lou said she was going to ask for more money and the producer told her look what happened to Elinore Donahue when she asked for more money.

Don Knotts said, he left because Andy Griffith told him personally he was not coming back so Don went to sign contracts. Then he said, Andy signed for more seasons just like always and he was out of luck.

Aunt Bee was nicknamed

FAFL

Fat Ass Free Loader

It was short for Buffalo Butt.They were too polite to say it front of her but were unwilling to let the hilarious inside joke go.

Time is such a bitch

OMG, r104!!

Wherever did you find that?!

Priceless!

It was to hide her real identity.She was a former Felon and Madam known as Big Bitch Berta.She ran the largest prostitution ring North Carolina had ever seen. She was hired for her ability to change personas on a dime.Oh,and her delicious fried chicken.

Idiots, her first name was BERTHA!

According to Wikipedia, she went by the name Hazel Howard at some point.I wonder if any relation to Ron Howard.

Join now! The Andy Griffith Rerun Watchers Club...

We are not the only freaks discussing Aunt Bee..This is from the Straight Dope message board..

Another young Bee

She was so tiny.I wonder what happened to her other than old age .She was only in her mid 50s or so at start of AGS.

Related Aunt Bee thread from 2010..

It sounds like from a couple of these posts that Griffith got rid of both Elinor Donahue and Don Knotts! Sounds like he might have been a shit. He had a pretty good breakout movie with Patricia Neal playing a con artist type but then his film career went nowhere. I think back in those days, tv was definitely moved you to a much lower status as an actor. Interesting that Griffith had such charisma yet was probably a jerk. Reminds me of Reagan and Bush 43.

Oh God can't you anti-Reagan freaks stay out of any thread. Jesus fuck. Give it a rest. He didn't give you the dirty load.

Sorry about my grammar - should have taken the "was" out of "tv was definitely moved you..."

And I just remembered - didn't an elderly Griffith do an ad in support of Obamacare? So maybe not as big of a jerk as I might have thought. He also did some albums singing gospel songs I think? (not that that means anything as to character)

r104

What does Gloria DeHaven have to do with Aunt Bee?

--It wasn't simply "Aunt Bee": her full name was "Aunt Bee Em." She had a thing for scat, and I'm not talking about Ella Fitzgerald, neither.

R72, that’s hysterical! It was a little known fact that Saturday night was enema night in the Taylor household. Aunt Bee (Em) would order Sheriff Andy and Opie into the bathroom, where she’d administer several high-volume soapsuds enemas to their unwilling bottoms. This was all done during the commercials, so the home viewer never got to see these rectal ministrations.

never liked Helen Crump. She seemed very stuck up. And she was frequently overwrought; sometimes it seemed like she was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. The very first show she was on she barged in and screamed at Andy "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" Seemed Opie had told Andy about the new teacher who was being so tough on the kids (she thinks they're way behind in their history studies) and Andy made a few comments about the situation, and of course Opie told Miss Crump about what his Pa had to say about her. Does Andy make a mental note to avoid the bitchy Miss Crump after she chews him out? Of course not! He gets Opie interested in history by telling him thrilling stories and Opie comes to class all excited about history and the rest of the class follows suit. Learning that Andy was responsible for the class's turnaround, Helen goes to him, they talk, and boom, the rest is history. It's Helen Crump all the way for Andy after that. But I thought it was a shame. Helen Crump was SUCH a bitch.

sorry about my gramma

Actually, a few years before TAGS, Andy and Don were in the Broadway show "No Time For Sergeants."

Let's not forget the Mayberry Bible Study, y'all.

[quote]OMG, [R104]!! Wherever did you find that?!

Uhm ... Google Image Search.

I heard form a special source that Aunt Bee's real first name was. .. . . .

YPIR

The pin-up picture is tagged (correctly) Gloria DeHaven.

It's funny. They had test runs of girlfriends for Andy. Anyone the fans had a strong, positive reaction to got canned. The world was ambivalent about the Krump so she got the job. Miss Peggy was almost as loved as Ellie Walker. She got the boot after three or four episodes..

Her diploma from Sweet Briar College said simply "Beatrice Taylor". Yes, R111, Francis Bavier was quite the looker in her day. But the change in her appearance reminds me of the Southern colloquialism, "She done blowed up."

Francis Bavier played a maiden aunt and friend of the title character in an episode of the TV show Perry Mason. The episode was called The Case of the Crimson Kiss and that episode aired in November 1957. Her role in that show suggests that Bavier had already been typecast by Hollywood as the respectable maiden aunt years before the start of The Andy Griffith Show. Apart from that episode of Perry Mason. I don't remember ever having seen her in anything else other than TAGS.

IIRC, Francis Bavier moved to Siler City, NC in the early 1970s about the time of the end of Mayberry RFD (the successor to TAGS). She had no known ties to NC and had never lived in the South before that, so her decision to move to Siler City was something of a mystery. She lived comfortably in a well-appointed house. She had a staff during her years in Siler City, but she no family and few close friends. She was reported to be difficult by the locals and tended to be somewhat reclusive as she got older. In her later years, she routinely called the local Fire Department and Police Department for a wide variety of complaints. The men in those departments dutifully answered her calls even when she made multiple calls in a given day. She died in 1989 at the age of 86 after years of declining health. She left generous bequests to the Siler City Fire Department, the Siler City Rescue Squad, and the Siler City Police Department in her will.

I've lived in NC for about 25 years. Bavier's Siler City home, which is large and comfortable but not palatial, has sold twice since her death that I'm aware of. Both times the sale of the house included Bavier's blue 1966 Studebaker kept in a detached garage on the property. Bavier had driven the car regularly around town up until about five years before her death.

In an interview Andy Griffith gave soon after Bavier's death, he said she had called him about four months before she died to tell him that she regretted that they had not gotten along better during the run of the TV series. All in all, Aunt Bee was something of a cypher in her life and in her death.

Who?

Saturday night on the West Coast, Muriel's in her cups and -- oh, look -- it's the 2015 Bump Troll. ^

She was replaced by Esmeralda who also replaced Mrs Poole.