Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) and Ron Howard are the last survivors. AFAIK
Betty is 91.
An extremely underappreciated singer. RIP
But I don’t look it.
As for Gomer, “All the best to you and yours.” RIP.
How long did it take you to think that one up?
I’m a big fan of Gomer Pyle, USMC (the Andy Griffith Show too, for that matter). I remember being shocked when Frank Sutton died in 1974.
This wasn’t much of a shock, of course, but I am still saddened.
mmm
Thanks to you, I now have a image in my mind of Animal Mother reciting his famous lines in a Gomer Pyle voice:
“Well, Gollllly! All fu…”
My favorite episode of him in the AGS was when him and Goober hooked up with those two party girls that were normally giving Andy and Barney grief.
My favorite GPUMC was the one where the marines overpaid him and he tried to give the over-payment back to no avail.
How about Ellie from the drug store? I liked her so much better than prunepuss Helen Crump.
+1
Elinor Donahue is still alive.
As I mentioned in the death pool thread, I sang “Back Home Again In Indiana” when I heard about Jim Nabors’ death. Like Machine Elf, I always looked forward to his performance before the Indy 500.
Being a kid of the 70s with weird taste, I’ll always remember him as one of the androids on the “The Lost Saucer”.
with Ruth Buzzie, I completely forgot about that silly show until mentioned it.
I don’t remember seeing that Gone With The Wind show. what a great singer he was, and yet so willing to play silly comedy.
I thought his Gomer character was much better in the AGS and much too broad in his own show.
but the was still a good actor and comedian.
I follow Gen. Chuck Yeager on Twitter, and he had some nice words about Nabors today. They apparently met at the Indianapolis 500 (Nabors to sing, the General to quench his need for speed), and remained friends thereafter. Kinda cool to know that the guy who played Gomez Pyle and the first person to break the sound barrier were pals.
“Shazam! Tish, that’s French!” (Kiss kiss kiss)
Stories from the Alabama papers:
Winston Groom, author of “Forrest Gump,” tells a story of Nabors’ visit.
"D.R. Jordan was the Homecoming Committee chairman in '66 and was having difficulty getting Nabors after his LA flight to Atlanta to Tuscaloosa for his Friday night homecoming show headline appearance. (He) went to (UA President) Dr. (Frank) Rose asking him to use the university plane to pick him up in Atlanta. Dr. Rose told D.R. he would have to ask Coach Bryant as the athletic department had the final say so on the plane’s use.
D.R. went in to see Coach Bryant and asked him if the Homecoming Committee could use the plane to pick up Jim Nabors in Atlanta. Coach Bryant responded typically, “Who in the hell is Jim Nabors?” D.R. quickly explained he played “Gomer Pyle” on the “Gomer Pyle Show.”
Coach Bryant grinned and answered “Hell, that’s the only TV show me and Mary Harmon watch. Take the plane and go get him!”
Jim was a huge hit at the homecoming show."
Scott Hunter remembers Nabors’ 1966 visit well.
“When I was a freshman at Alabama he overnighted in the guest suite in Bryant Hall after flying in from LA and headlining the Friday night Homecoming event. Several of us freshman football players went down and asked him to come up and visit with us on the third floor. He kept us laughing past midnight with hilarious inside stories on the Andy Griffith show and playing Gomer Pyle on his own show…and occasionally belting out his signature Gomer Pyle ‘GAWWAHLEEEE’!”
We all laughed while he told stories of growing up in Sylacauga and going to Bama (he was a Delta Tau Delta fraternity member) and I told Coach Bryant stories. He showed me his combo vault/safe/wine cellar…he had bought it from an old Los Angeles bank being torn down and had installed when he built his house and showed me the entire ‘original’ film canisters of his Gomer Pyle shows safely secured in them.
Told me he had bought the syndicated broadcast rights for almost nothing when the series ended. He told me he was making far more money on the syndication rights than he made starring in the show for 5 years.
Also told me he found out in the early 70’s the show’s Sgt Carter character (Frank Sutton) was destitute and living in a retired actor’s home in LA. (Nabors) found him and assigned him 5 percent of the show’s rights and revenues for the rest of his life.
I DID live in Indiana and Nabors’ rendition of “Back Home in indiana” always made me a little verklempt after I moved away. RIP, sir.
Ronnie Schell, who played Duke Slater for four years on “Gomer Pyle” is still alive (born in 1931) and as the world’s slowest rising comedian still works.
Absolutely amazing baritone singing voice. If you don’t cry when hearing him sing The Impossible Dream I don’t want to know you.
Odd that some news casters referred to his husband as his “partner.” They were legally wed, folks.