Andy Griffith, folksy TV sheriff and comedian, dies at 86
LOS ANGELES - Andy Griffith, whose folksy portrayal of the wise and good-humored sheriff of Mayberry in the classic 1960s situation comedy “The Andy Griffith Show” made him one of television’s most beloved stars, has died. He was 86.
Griffith, who decades later experienced another round of TV popularity starring as a crafty Atlanta defense attorney on “Matlock,” died Tuesday morning at his home in Manteo, N.C., his friend and former president of the University of North Carolina, William C. Friday, told the Los Angeles Times. The cause was not immediately determined.