NAMES IN THE NEWS : ‘Matlock’ Hated the Laughter
- Share via
NEW YORK — Andy Griffith credits a grammar school performance and his hatred of being laughed at as the impetus for his acting career.
“I was laughed at all the time” as a child, the 63-year-old actor said in an interview in Parade magazine for next Sunday. He recalled an instance during a third-grade play that made him realize that he could make people laugh with him, instead of at him.
“I discovered that I could control why they laughed by doing something overt to make them laugh,” Griffith said. “I was being laughed at, I hated it, so I made an adjustment to control the situation. All comics learn that.”
The result was a successful career that included eight years as Mayberry’s lovable sheriff on “The Andy Griffith Show,” a host of specials and most recently “Matlock,” a series in which he plays a lawyer who always gets his clients off the hook.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
