That same year, he won the role of Will Stockdale in the TV version of Ira Levin's play, No Time for Sergeants. Griffith and his wife moved to New York, where he made his television debut as a guest monologist on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1954. One of these monologues, called "What It Was Was Football," was released commercially in 1953 and became one of the most popular comedic monologues of all time. The couple developed a traveling routine, featuring singing, dancing and monologues performed by Griffith. Griffith taught high school music for three years before setting out, with his new wife, Barbara Edwards, a fellow actor at UNC, on a career as an entertainer. While in college, he became involved in drama and musical theater and graduated in 1949 with a degree in music. Later, he decided he wanted to become a Moravian preacher, and enrolled as a pre-divinity student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1944. Early Careerīorn on June 1, 1926, in Mount Airy, North Carolina, Griffith's first career ambition was to be an opera singer. He died in Manteo, Roanoke Island, North Carolina, on July 3, 2012. He later returned to TV in the lawyer drama Matlock and recorded several gospel albums. He rose to immense popularity as the character Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, which ran from 1960-'68. Andy Griffith hit stardom in the late 1950s acting in film, TV and Broadway productions while also creating albums of comedic monologues.
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