Andy Griffith Remembered the 'Deep Panic' That 'Set in' During 'Dry Spell' After “The Andy Griffith Show”

Victoria EdelMon, June 1, 2026 at 6:09 PM UTC

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Andy Griffith in 'The Andy Griffith Show' (left); Andy Griffith in 'Matlock' (right)
Credit: CBS via Getty;BC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty -

Andy Griffith, who would have turned 100 today, remembered feeling a "deep panic" when he couldn't land a stable role after The Andy Griffith Show ended

Griffith had originally wanted to end the series, but ended up working as a "character actor"

In 1986, he finally landed another major series, Matlock

It was Andy Griffith's decision to end The Andy Griffith Show, but it took a long time for him to find success again.

Griffith, who would have turned 100 on Monday, June 1, starred on his titular sitcom from 1960 to 1968 for eight seasons. In the show, he starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor, living in the sleepy (and fictional) town of Mayberry, N.C. He was the single father of Opie (played by a young Ron Howard) and had a bumbling deputy, Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts). The show launched two successful spinoffs, including Mayberry R.F.D. and Gomer Pyle – USMC.

Dick Linke, Andy's longtime manager, explained to PEOPLE in 1979 that Griffith, who died in 2012 at the age of 86, “figured that the show had run its course” and “wanted to do more serious things.” He added, “He knows he made a mistake." Linke died in 2016 at 98.

Andy Griffith (left) and Ron Howard in 'The Andy Griffith Show'
Credit: CBS via Getty

Griffith told PEOPLE that for the nine years after the series ended, he was in a “dry spell.” He explained, “I did five pilots that got nowhere, had two series that flopped." He appeared in some films but could not find steady work. "I went from pillar to post and became known as a character actor around town,” he said.

He missed working on a weekly program. "A deep panic set in," he told PEOPLE, "mostly when I went down to North Carolina [where he has a house on 53 acres] and after two weeks nothing came in the mail — no outlines, no scripts, no phone calls. The idea that the movie community was running along so beautifully without me — man, it drove me up the wall."

He said that it was no longer a “necessity” for him to play a “lead role,” adding, “Thank God I don't have that kind of ego.” But he wanted parts that were “interesting,” citing his role in 1977's Washington: Behind Closed Doors.

At the time, Griffith was starring in the new series Salvage 1, where he played a junkyard dealer who dreams of going to the moon to get all the scrap left behind. He called it an “old-fashioned, action-adventure fantasy” and praised it as “delightful nonsense” that was also “non-violent.”

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The show was renewed for season 2, but was canceled after the two-part season opener aired; the four remaining episodes aired decades later on Nostalgia Television.

Don Knotts (left) and Andy Griffith in 'Matlock'
Credit: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Griffith continued to work, with roles in many TV miniseries and movies. Then he, Knotts, Howard and the rest of The Andy Griffith Show cast reunited in 1986 for Return to Mayberry. Griffith told PEOPLE at the time that he thought he was “going to be hot stuff” in Hollywood, but instead “sat around the house.”

But Griffith's second major success was on the horizon as he filmed the reunion: Matlock, which aired its two-part pilot in March 1986, “Diary of a Perfect Murder.” The show was part of the weekly schedule beginning that September and aired for nine seasons, until 1995. Griffith played Ben Matlock, a defense attorney (who chooses his cases because he believes the client is innocent).

Matlock allowed Griffith to reunite with Knotts, who died in 2006 at 81. He played Les "Ace" Calhoun, Ben's next-door neighbor who is also one of his clients, in seasons 3 through 6.

Knotts' daughter, Karen, told Woman's World in 2015, “Everything that [Griffith] was in, he wanted to get my dad in, too. He loved him more than his own self, and even when he was on Matlock and my dad wasn't working at that time, he went to the producers and said, ‘I want Don Knotts on the show.' ”

Karen said that the producer told him there was “no part for a character comedian,” but he stood his ground until they gave in. “Everything from the day they met, he was in my dad's corner,” she said. “He just loved him more than life itself.”

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”