George Smith Lindsey was an American character actor, best known for his role
as Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D. and his subsequent
tenure on Hee-Haw. Life and career
George Lindsey was born in Greensboro, Georgia in populous Greene County,
Georgia, and grew up in the small town of Jasper. Lindsey graduated from Walker
High School in 1946 and then attended Kemper Military School in Boonville,
Missouri, and Florence State College in Florence, where he majored in physical
education and biology, played quarterback on the football team, and
received a Bachelor of Science in 1952. After graduating from college he
enlisted in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Ramey AFB in Puerto
Rico. After his discharge, he taught for a year at Hazel Green High School in
Hazel Green, Alabama, while waiting to be accepted by the American Theater Wing
in New York City in 1956. After graduating from the American Theater
Wing and performing in two Broadway plays, "Wonderful Town" and "All
American", he moved to Los Angeles in 1962. He got parts in TV series of the
day with bit parts in The Rifleman, The Real McCoys, The Twilight Zone, Daniel
Boone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,and three episodes of The Alfred
Hitchcock Hour, before he got the role he would become famous for as "Goober"
on the The Andy Griffith Show. = The Andy Griffith Show, as "Goober
Pyle"= In 1964, Lindsey was cast as the
slow-witted but kindly "Goober Beasley" on the The Andy Griffith Show. His
character was later renamed "Goober Pyle" to tie him to his cousin Gomer
Pyle, slow-witted country boy played by Jim Nabors, also from Alabama. Goober's
antics frequently included his exaggerated "Goober Dance" and his
comically bad Cary Grant impression. As Lindsey started his portrayal as
Goober, he also had a minor role in the Walter Brennan series The Tycoon on ABC.
Lindsey played a sailor in the 1964 film Ensign Pulver, the sequel to Mister
Roberts. He also had a role in a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode
entitled Submarine Sunk Here. He also appeared in 6 episodes of the television
series Gunsmoke. He played a blackmailing taxicab driver in the "Bed
of Roses" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
= Mayberry R.F.D., other acting work= After Griffith left his television show,
CBS retooled it as Mayberry R.F.D. and Lindsey played the same character, until
CBS cancelled the program in 1971. In his autobiography, Lindsey said though
Mayberry R.F.D. gave his character more to do, he never felt the show's writing
was up to the standards of The Andy Griffith Show.
In 1972, Lindsey portrayed Charlie, one of a pair of highwaymen in the Gunsmoke
episode "Blind Man's Buff," and an escaped convict, "The Dove," in an
episode of The Rifleman. Disney used his talents in a few projects, both as
comedy support in features and voiceovers for a few of their animated
characters. Three Disney animated features that presented the voice of
Lindsey were The Aristocats, Robin Hood and The Rescuers. He also appeared in
the 1967 Gunsmoke episode "Mad Dog" as one of the Watson Brothers.
In 1978, Lindsey guest starred on M*A*S*H as Roy Dupree, a Southern
surgeon working at the 8063rd Unit who switched places at the 4077th with
Hawkeye Pierce in the season 6 episode "Temporary Duty." The storyline depicted
Dupree as a highly capable surgeon, but even more fixated on extracurricular
hijinks than the rest of the surgeons. In the end, Hawkeye's friend, B.J.
Hunnicutt and nemesis, Charles Emerson Winchester III became so fed up that
they joined forces to assure Dupree wouldn't remain long at the unit.
= As "Goober" on Hee Haw= Lindsey portrayed "Goober" for the third
and last time on the syndicated country music variety show Hee Haw, playing a
more rustic version of the character. He appeared on that show from 1972 to 1992.
Following Hee Haw, Lindsey had a brief cameo in the NewsRadio episode "Rose
Bowl" as a witness in a consumer fraud civil case.
Honors and citations Lindsey raised over US$1,000,000 for
Alabama Special Olympics through 17 years of the George Lindsey Celebrity
Weekend and Golf Tournament in Montgomery, Alabama and another $50,000
for the Alabama Association of Retarded Citizens, and participated as Head
Coach-Winter Games in the Minneapolis, Minnesota Special Olympics National
Competition. He established and perpetuated the
George Lindsey Academic Scholarships at University of North Alabama. In 1992,
the university gave him an honorary doctorate.
Lindsey was the 1995 recipient of the Governor's Achievement Award — Alabama
Music Hall of Fame. The State of Alabama named the "George Lindsey Highway" in
Jasper, Alabama after the actor. In 1998, he established the George
Lindsey/UNA Film Festival that takes place at the University of North Alabama
annually in the spring. He was the 1997 recipient of the Minnie
Pearl Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2007 recipient of the first ICON Award
presented by the Nashville Associations of Talent Directors.
His last guest appearance was on Larry the Cable Guy's Hula Palooza Christmas
Luau in 2009. Autobiography
Lindsey's autobiography, Goober in a Nutshell, was published in 1995.
Death Lindsey died on May 6, 2012 in
Nashville, Tennessee following a brief unspecified illness. He was 83. He was
buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Jasper, Alabama.
References External links
George Lindsey at the Internet Movie Database
George Lindsey at the Internet Broadway Database
George Lindsey UNA Film Festival George Lindsey at Find a Grave
NYTimes obit.