Yes, I’ve known Andy Griffith longer than I have known anyone in Randolph County. Yes, even longer than I have known my beautiful wife, Barbara Patterson Mills.

But that does not mean that I am a fan of Andy Griffith. I didn’t care for his antics when we were both students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, nor do I watch his television shows.

He is a millionaire many times over. I am just an old journalist who enjoys writing, and is able to pay our family bills each month.

I know that I am happy. I don’t know if brother Andy is or not.

I don’t watch his movies. I remember seeing him around the Old Well at Chapel Hill with his girlfriend at that time.

I don’t know if it is his present wife or not. That doesn’t matter. He always had a girlfriend. He and his girl at the time were both featured artists at the Playmakers Theater at UNC and spent most of their time, or so it seems, to be practicing for their next performance.

I was on the Daily Tar Heel staff at the time and worked at night. I was the daily Tar Heel editor my senior year before graduating to a job on the Winston-Salem journal.

I am now 82 years old and suspect that Andy is at least that old. I still consider that I am much more handsome than Andy.

I have before me a clipping from a newspaper of several years ago proclaiming “Andy Griffith, indie darling”.

I have no idea what that means. I now will cite some of the stuff that the article proclaims.

“Sure, he’ll always be known as Sheriff Andy Taylor, the gentle father of son Ope and the gunless lawman of Mayberry who dispensed a homegrown wisdom on the “Andy Griffith Show.”

Or as the disheveled, yet shrewd, Atlanta defense lawyer Ben Matlock. But now a breakout star of sorts in the critically acclaimed “Waitress.”

His only supporting character in a movie starring Keri Russell as Jenna, is a top-notch pie maker trying to leave her brutish husband. But Griffith steals the show as the cranky owner of the diner where she works.”

The article continues: “Griffith lives a fiercely private life with wife Cindi in the North Carolina Outer Banks town of Manteo. Until “Waitress,” he hadn’t appeared in a live-action firm since 2001. But he said he got two other scripts at the same time as “Waitress,” choosing that project as the quality of Shelly’s writing and because Joe “was a good, pivotal part.”

Producer Michael Roiff said he and Shelly couldn’t believe their good forerun at landing Griffith for the role. Griffith was on the set for just four days of the 20-day shoot, but he didn’t disappoint.

“We were so excited about the performance he was delivering,” Roiff said. “In the editing room, putting scenes together, she and I would just look at each other and think, ‘How did we get so lucky? Who let this happen in our movie?”

When “The Andy Griffith Show” ended its eight-year run in 1968, it bowed out as the No.1 show in television.

And it’s still on the air each week with re-runs.

But Barbara and I don’t watch it. We switch to another channel. He’s a silly cat in my estimation. And I have already seen enough of Andy Griffith and Andy Taylor and his shinaggins.

Fifty years ago, Andy was the star in the movie “No Time for Sergeants” – that was 50 years ago. Griffith is still looking for work.

But I hope that he doesn’t try to come back on either the screen or the theater. I have had my fill of Andy Griffith, or Andy Taylor.

Or that guy with the name he decides to choose.

Enough said.



Barron Mills is a former editor and publisher of The Randolph Guide. He lives in Asheboro.