Jim Nabors is Dead

Didn't even know he was sick!

Well, goooolly!

OH NO - I WANTED TO GIVE HIM A BLOW JOB WHILE WE WERE BOTH STILL ALIVE!!

That’s sad, he seemed like a genuine, good person and was extremely talented.

Better late than never.

One less Trump voter in 2020...?

Was he still alive?

I just remember being SO shocked the first time I heard him sing. Not even close to what I expected after years of seeing him in the goofy TV roles. Wasn't he a pal of Carol Burnett also?

Aww. G'Night, Gomer.

For R8

He was 87 so this was, sadly, NOT a

SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE

I thought he died years ago.

So young.

Thanks R10. I enjoyed it.

I met him in a Mexican restaurant in Montana. He was very nice and friendly.

RIP Gomer.

He just got married in 2013. He had been with his partner 38 years already when they tied the knot. Poor hubby, I hope he's doing OK.

He lived across the street from my aunt and uncle back in the 60s when he was doing Gomer Pyle. Rock Hudson and other guys used to party at his place. He was in Huntington Beach.

[quote] I just remember being SO shocked the first time I heard him sing. Not even close to what I expected after years of seeing him in the goofy TV roles.

My mom loved his voice and singing for years. I also thought of him as the googy characters he played until I heard his voice. It was a revelation.

I am very sad to hear this. I lived but a few doors down from him at Diamond Head/Kahala for 20 years. He was a kind, honorable man. He opened his beach front home to many charity events. His living room opened to a magnificent view to the ocean and you could enjoy the view of his “nabor” the Doris Duke Estate. We spoke often as I made my way to the beach for evening swims and passed by his house. Always personable, intelligent, fun and approachable to tourist and beach goers.

With all the shitty celebrities around now, sexually harassing and being real shits, JN was a man of kindness and humble humanity. RIP.

Thank you for not using that "DEAD TO ME" bit in your title.

My mom used to listen to Nabor's music a lot. Great unexpected voice. Seemed to be a good guy too. Sad news.

"Thank you for not using that "DEAD TO ME" bit in your title. "

I second that.

RIP, Gomer.

Awwww. I hope his hubby gets through this.

Shocked he was still alive. Heartened to hear only good things about him, will take some optimism from any and all sources these days.

Excellent corpse joke, OP. RIP Jim.

He was a quiet gay pioneer. RIP.

This dude was still alive?

WTF I thought he was gone long ago.

Love it that he and his husband were luxuriating in Hawaii. Good for them! God bless and rest your soul, Jim, and comfort to his husband and loved ones.

So who had him? Don Knotts was kind of fem.

He was as nice as he was homely.

Warning, RANT ahead: It just really pisses me off to see some of the hateful, horrible comments about him at TMZ from folks who say they are Christians and have had zero interaction to this man. To condemn him, he’s in hell now, he took it up the ass so he deserves horrible things. Ignorant assholes commenting on someone who was kind, generous, talented and welcoming. What the fuck has happened to humanity?

Huge.

The TMZ people are true dregs of the earth.

I was SHOCKED to find out he was gay. Never would have known!

[quote]What the fuck has happened to humanity?

In what way does this differ from how most of humanity has always regarded gay men and women?

TMZ comments are full of trolls/shitposters, r30.

I just watched that episode last night r10.

RIP Mr. Nabors

R5: Leave it to the pros, hun.

OP apologizing for the TMZ URL. TMZ is reliably "do your worst but get there first" but the first URL I saw announcing JN's death was from someone using his local channel news site of a network I see as getting more attention here than it deserves.

"Well, as they say on the playgrounds, tough noogies!"

I’m jealous. He got to suck off Rock Hudson.

He had a nice sound when he sang, but GOD, he didn't know how to sing!

CITIZENS CARDIAC ARREST! CITIZENS CARDIAC ARREST!

My mom was another one who loved his singing.

I once saw a chubby drag queen do a parody of Madonna's "Vogue" and the best line in her rap was:

"Jim Nabor/ On the cover of the Pennysaver."

Wish I could find that. Think it was public access though. Anyone can help?

r40, they were "girlfriends" not lovers

RIP, Mr Nabors. You were a sweet guy, and lots of people will miss you.

Go-o-o-lllly!

Seemed like a nice guy, but what about the 1994 liver transplant? Does his story about contracting hepatitis B in India from cutting himself with a straight razor make any sense?

R47, which “golly!” do you prefer yours or R2’s?

Once flying to Hawaii for Christmas, we were on the plane for the second leg of the flight.....Jim Nabors was nearly the last person to board the plane.....and swept down the aisle in a full length mink coat. He was nodding and smiling to everyone......

Someone said: "Golleee, Jim....."

He stopped and did a modeling turn and said: "I'm a long way from Mayberry!" He was great and came back later during the flight and talked to anyone who wanted to speak to him, signed autographs, then went back to his seat and went to sleep.....

She was tremendous!

I was in eighth grade in 1964 when the rumor SWEPT through my Catholic school that he and Rock Hudson had GOTTEN MARRIED! And actually EXCHANGED RINGS! It sounds so stupid now, but at the time that rumor was BIG. And it was certainly the first time in many of our lives we even considered the implications (all of them!) of such a thing. Adults talked about it too; it was everywhere.

Because of his goofy looks, people could believe that Jim Nabors might be less than straight, nobody believed that there was anything gay about Rock Hudson. He was making all those sex comedies with Doris Day, and he was MARRIED! It did not appear to impact either of their careers. It was tough for gay men who were successful in TV and movies in the early 60s. Nabors never really denied it and never "dated" or married a woman, so good for him. Ended up living a long and comfortable partnered life in Hawaii, while Hudson, the handsomer and much more closeted, would die early and publicly of AIDS.

It's interesting to consider the lives and career paths of both of them, and you have to kind of respect the struggles they must have dealt with. They both had a lot of mainstream popularity, were well liked and successful. RIP to them both.

[quote] Nabors never really denied it and never "dated" or married a woman, so good for him.

R52, what do you think of this post from the other Jim Nabors thread?

[quote] I remember seeing Jim Nabors on an American daytime talk show around the late 80s, angrily denying that he was gay. Apparently, the rumor about his gaiety was swirling because he had contracted hepatitis. He admitted to having this particular strain of hepatitis, but he was furious about the gay part. His teeth were gnashing; his eyes were flashing. He vehemently denied he was gay, and claimed he did not know how he had contracted the hepatitis. He speculated that, when he had been in India recently, he shaved with a dull razor, cutting himself numerous times, and then took a shower. Somehow, the fithy Indian water entered his blood through the razor cuts and infected him with hepatitis that way. Looking back, it's sad to think how he must have felt, having to deny the truth so vigorously.

[quote] He was making all those sex comedies with Doris Day, and he was MARRIED!

Rock Hudson was married, very briefly, in the '50s. He was not married at the time of the Doris Day comedies, or of the Nabors rumor.

Not that long ago a cashier at my Kroger said to me "Do you know who you look like? Gomer Pyle!". I said "that's funny, because you know who YOU look like? Nell Carter!" Anyway RIP. Jim seemed like a really nice guy.

Reunited with Sgt. Carter at last.

" It did not appear to impact either of their careers. "

But it did. They stopped getting work. Until Carol Burnett starting having them on her show (spereately of course) as guest stars. She "normalized" them again for the public.

Loved him on the Andy Griffith show. Much better than that annoying nitwit Goober.

I guess Lou Anne Poovie wasn't getting much action from Private Pyle.

^ Carol was such a fag hag, God bless her

R52 That may well have been your experience, but it was not universal by any means.

My mother loved Rock Hudson and particularly his films with Doris Day. When we went to see Pillow Talk in the theater(I guess I was about 6) she said that it was such a shame that he had no interest in the ladies.

Considering that I lived in the heart of Appalachia at that time, I have to guess that it wasn't as much of a secret as you seem to think it was.

Montgomery Clift!? Say it ain’t so.

But James Neighbors lives

There were rumors over the last decade in Hawaii that he was quite ill. Heand the husband came to be rarely spotted inpublic.

He's finally reunited with his husband Rock Hudson. Jim's wedding dress is headed to the Smithsonian.

Yes, R8. That resonant voice emanating from Mr. Golly was uncanny. Almost like he was lip-synching.

Shazam! And guys, his voice was really kind of corny – it wasn’t all that. It’s just the shock of his down-south accent In contrast to his untrained semi-operatic singing voice that got the fraus frothy.

This being the 50th anniversary of The Carol Burnett Show and the Special coming up soon to mark it, what a sad coincidence this passing is. Jim Nabors was the very first guest on her show and guested every season opener thereafter. I'm so glad they had those times together.

He once topped a friend of mine in Chicago, who swears Jim was hung 10".

R55, she meant that you look the way Nabors sounded when,he sang in that beautiful voice.

Somebody posted on here ages ago about hooking up with Nabors. Said he was a gentleman and well-hung.

R70, what more can one ask for?

[quote]Jim Nabors was nearly the last person to board the plane.....and swept down the aisle in a full length mink coat. He was nodding and smiling to everyone......

There used to be a gas station near S. Santa Monica and Rodeo in Bev Hills. I remember walking by and noticing a new Rolls-Royce convertible getting gassed up. Jim Nabors was standing next to it, and staring at me as I went by. I remember thinking "Jim Nabors in a Rolls?" Seemed incongruous, like he should be driving a Jeep or something.

When I lived in Honolulu, in 1989/90, I used to see him at Queen’s Surf Beach, known at the time as a gay hangout. He’d pull up in his Rolls, and converse with the young, trim, mostly blond guys, whi’d Sometimes leave with him.

It’s no accident his husband is 20 years younger and a former firefighter.

Love listening to this every year during the holidays.

That Andy Griffith ep where Barney an Gomer are taken hostage by those female cons (incl. Reta Shaw) is still one of the funniest tv eps ever.

I liked him. 😢

Jim Nabors is way cool.

[quote]Once flying to Hawaii for Christmas, we were on the plane for the second leg of the flight

R50 - it is unclear to me where in the hell else you would have been for the second leg of the flight.

I'm having trouble making the finances work. Sure, he was on a hit series for 5 years, but that was before there was really big money in it--certainly not Rolls-Royce, beachfront villa in Hawaii, and live in semi-retirement for almost 40 years money. Those goofy gospel albums must have minted him money, or he invested very wisely and if anyone knows about that I'd love to hear about it.

There was a rumor back in the early 80's that Julie Andrews and Jim Nabors had cornered the macadamia nut business in Hawaii by buying all the big nut plantations. It was one of those rumors that was so weird you were inclined to believe it.

It's well know his larger than life, booming, singing voice was inversely proportional to his penis size.

R6, Jim was a friend and supporter of Ben Cayetano, former Democratic governor of Hawaii. Not everyone from a red state is a republican.

Did Miss Poovey finger his rectum ???

He had a great voice which was so different from the image of country hick Gomer Pyle character he played. Talk about someone's talent defying logic. He was also a very nice man from what I've read. RIP Mr Nabors.

From what I've been reading, no one ever had a bad word to say about him.

Sergeant Carter was pretty fuckable, or was it just me

I stood next to him once in the elevator of the UN Plaza Hotel in, I think it was, 1986 (?). NBC was doing its press tour there for its fall lineup and he must have been in a show that was going to be featured, or maybe a TV movie, because they were shilling a few of those too.

I was working for a vendor serving the PR industry and NBC had hired us to be there at the hotel. So my colleague Darren and I get on an elevator and there are some producers and Jim, who the producers are joking with. They stopped joking when we got on and I stood right next to him. He was about my height, maybe jus a little taller. He looked at me as if getting ready to respond if I said anything. I didn't.

End of story.

Why didn't you say something R86?

He didn’t get the aids from Rock did he?

The rumors about him and Hudson were even in the family Parade magazine syndicated in most of the Sunday papers all through out the US in the early 70s.

To not know about the rumors you had to be illiterate or not talk to anybody.

Saargent, haargent, how come ah speak like this ...and SING LIKE THIS

Funny R86, but I actually met him in an elevator as well. But I talked to him. He was very nice in person, as others have said. Kind of shy and humble.

Carol Burnett was on Stephen Colbert last night, and I was a little surprised that he didn't say anything about Jim Nabors to her, even though she was there to hype her 50th anniversary special.

R78 the passengers in tourist were sitting out on the wing.....

R92, I was surprised, as well. Unless, does Colbert pre-tape his Friday show(s)?

Columnist Joyce Haber started the marriage rumor when she wrote about a wedding taking place between two top Hollywood male stars - "one of them is friendly just like your neighbor and the other is strong as the Rock of Gibraltar....."

Carol Burnett did release a statement.

Jim and I remained close friends for 52 years. He was the godfather of my daughter, Jody. Every year he was always the first guest on my variety show. I considered him my 'good luck charm.' My heart is heavy. I'm grateful he was a large part of my life. I miss him. I love him.

[quote]Why didn't you say something [R86]?

That, my fellow homosexual, will remain the great mystery of the epic tale just told.

[quote] it is unclear to me where in the hell else you would have been for the second leg of the flight.

I'm guessing it was from an East Coast city, which would have required a first leg to the West Coast, followed by a second leg to Hawaii?

Does his fellow cast member Rob Howard really hate homosexuals?

[quote]He was a quiet gay pioneer.

No, he was not. See R53. And that is not the only similar account.

[quote]Carol Burnett was on Stephen Colbert last night, and I was a little surprised that he didn't say anything about Jim Nabors to her, even though she was there to hype her 50th anniversary special.

Friday shows are pre-taped.

He was a great entertainer. RIP.

Yes R98 you are correct......I didn't want folks to assume Mr Nabors and I lived in the same city.....

How the hell did Jim Nabors die in 2017? I just learned this today. I distinctly remember seeing on the news he died around 1990 from an undisclosed illness which I of course figured must have been AIDS. I even remember one of the local channels having a Gomer Pyle marathon in his memory.

R104, you be trippin'.

R104, was it hunky Frank Sutton?

Is he still dead? Just wondering why this was bumped.

[quote] [R104], was it hunky Frank Sutton?

Hunky?

Where?