List of The Andy Griffith Show characters

The following is a list of characters of The Andy Griffith Show, an American sitcom television series, starring Andy Griffith. The series ran for eight seasons on CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Episodes 1–159 (1960–1965) were broadcast in black-and-white, while the last 90 episodes (1965–1968) were in color.

Character	Actor	Brief Description	Seasons								Episodes
Character	Actor	Brief Description	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Episodes
Andy Taylor	Andy Griffith	Sheriff of Mayberry; father (widowed) of Opie	Main								249
Opie Taylor	Ronny Howard	Son of Andy Taylor	Main								243
Barney Fife	Don Knotts	Deputy Sheriff of Mayberry	Main					Guest			162
Aunt Bee	Frances Bavier	Andy's paternal aunt	Main^[a]								188
Emma Watson^[b]	Cheerio Meredith	A townsperson	Recurring		Does not appear						6
Jud Fletcher	Burt Mustin	Elderly citizen of Mayberry	Recurring	Guest		Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear	8^[c]
Otis Campbell	Hal Smith	The town drunk who lets himself into the jail to sleep it off	Recurring					Guest		Does not appear	32
Mayor Pike	Dick Elliott	Mayor of Mayberry	Recurring		Does not appear						11
Ellie Walker	Elinor Donahue	Pharmacist, Andy's girlfriend	Main^[d]	Does not appear							12
Floyd Lawson^[e]	Howard McNear^[f]	Town barber	Recurring							Does not appear	80
Thelma Lou	Betty Lynn	Barney's primary girlfriend	Guest	Recurring				Guest	Does not appear		26
Clara Edwards^[g]	Hope Summers	Aunt Bee's best friend	Guest	Recurring						Does not appear	31
Ben Weaver	Will Wright/Tol Avery/Jason Johnson	Miserly old landlord and department store owner	Guest^[h]		Does not appear	Guest^[i]	Does not appear	Guest^[j]	Does not appear		6
Rafe Hollister	Jack Prince	Local farmer and moonshiner	Does not appear	Guest		Does not appear					3
Leon	Clint Howard	Toddler in a cowboy outfit; never speaks in any of his appearances	Does not appear	Guest			Does not appear				5
John Masters	Olan Soule	Choir director and hotel manager	Does not appear	Guest				Does not appear			5
Mayor Roy Stoner	Parley Baer	Mayor of Mayberry	Does not appear		Recurring	Does not appear					7
Peggy McMillan	Joanna Moore	County nurse and Andy's girlfriend	Does not appear		Recurring	Does not appear					4
Daphne	Jean Carson	One of "The Fun Girls"	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear			3
Skippy	Joyce Jameson	One of "The Fun Girls"	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear			3
Wally	Norman Leavitt/Trevor Bardette/Cliff Norton	Owner of the filling station where Gomer and Goober work	Does not appear		Guest		Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear		4
Gomer Pyle	Jim Nabors	Mechanic at Wally's Filling Station	Does not appear		Recurring		Does not appear				23
Asa Breeney	Charles P. Thompson	Elderly, sleepy security guard / hotel clerk	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear			5
Reverend Hobart M. Tucker	William Keene	Pastor of All Souls Church	Does not appear		Guest				Does not appear	Guest	6
Helen Crump	Aneta Corsaut	School teacher and Andy's girlfriend	Does not appear		Recurring						66
Johnny Paul Jason	Richard Keith	Opie's best friend	Does not appear		Guest	Recurring		Guest	Does not appear		11
Briscoe Darling	Denver Pyle	Head of The Darlings	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear	5
Charlene Darling	Maggie Peterson	Briscoe Darling's daughter. Had a crush on Andy.	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear	5
The Darling Boys	The Dillards	Musical brothers	Does not appear		Guest			Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear	5
Ernest T. Bass	Howard Morris	A troublemaking mountain man	Does not appear		Guest				Does not appear		5
Malcolm Merriweather	Bernard Fox	English valet	Does not appear		Guest		Does not appear	Guest	Does not appear		3
Trey Bowden	David Alan Bailey	Opie's friend	Does not appear			Guest	Does not appear				3
Goober Pyle^[k]	George Lindsey	Auto mechanic and cousin of Gomer Pyle	Does not appear			Guest	Recurring				86
Deputy Warren Ferguson	Jack Burns	Floyd's nephew; replaces Barney as deputy	Does not appear					Recurring	Does not appear		11
Flora Malherbe	Alberta Nelson^[l]	A waitress at the Mayberry Diner, Goober's girlfriend	Does not appear					Guest	Does not appear	Guest	3
Howard Sprague	Jack Dodson^[m]	The milquetoast county clerk	Does not appear					Recurring			37
Emmett Clark	Paul Hartman	Fix-it shop owner	Does not appear							Recurring	16
Martha Clark	Mary Lansing	Emmett's wife	Does not appear							Recurring	3
Sam Jones	Ken Berry	Widowed farmer and father of Mike Jones	Does not appear							Recurring	4

Characters are listed in order of their initial appearance. Only characters who appeared in 3 or more episodes are listed. For other characters, see The Andy Griffith Show guest stars.

Legend: = Main cast (credited); = Recurring cast (3+ episodes per season); = Guest cast (1-2 episodes per season)

Unseen regular characters

Name	Seasons	Brief character summary
Sarah	1–8	Mayberry telephone operator who often eavesdrops on calls and has brief conversations with characters in at least 19 episodes
Juanita Beasley	1–5	Waitress at the Bluebird Diner who Barney talks to on the telephone as his second girlfriend in ten episodes. First mentioned in S1E26 "Andy Forecloses".
Leonard Blush	4–5	Radio announcer from station YLRB, later WMPD, from Mount Pilot, in "Family Visits" and "Barney's Bloodhound" whose voice is that of Howard Morris, who is also referred to by name in "The Song Festers"

Notes

^ While Frances Bavier is not included in the main credits until the color seasons, she is included as main cast in this list due to the number of episodes she appears in each season. All other characters listed recurring or guest are based on their episode count as none of them appear in the opening credits.
^ Emma Watson is also named Emma Brand
^ Burt Mustin was in a total of 14 episodes; only episodes where he was Jud Fletcher are counted here.
^ Elinor Donahue only appeared in 12 episodes in the first season, but received billing in the opening credits
^ Floyd Lawson was initially "Floyd Colby"
^ The first appearance of Floyd was played by Walter Baldwin
^ Clara Edwards was also referred to as Bertha Edwards, Bertha Johnson, and Clara Johnson
^ Will Wright played Ben Weaver in "The Christmas Story", "Andy Forecloses", and "The Merchant of Mayberry"
^ Tol Avery played Ben Weaver in "The Shoplifters"
^ Jason Johnson played Ben Weaver in "Aunt Bee Takes a Job" and "Goober's Replacement"
^ Goober Pyle's last name is initially introduced as Goober Beasley
^ Nelson first appeared as Nettie, a classmate who had a crush on Barney, in "The Return of Barney Fife"; appeared credited as "Waitress" in the Mayberry RFD episode "Emmett's Retirement"
^ Jack Dodson first appeared on the show as Andy's insurance agent, Ed Jenkins

[1] While Frances Bavier is not included in the main credits until the color seasons, she is included as main cast in this list due to the number of episodes she appears in each season. All other characters listed recurring or guest are based on their episode count as none of them appear in the opening credits.

[2] Emma Watson is also named Emma Brand

[3] Burt Mustin was in a total of 14 episodes; only episodes where he was Jud Fletcher are counted here.

[4] Elinor Donahue only appeared in 12 episodes in the first season, but received billing in the opening credits

[5] Floyd Lawson was initially "Floyd Colby"

[6] The first appearance of Floyd was played by Walter Baldwin

[7] Clara Edwards was also referred to as Bertha Edwards, Bertha Johnson, and Clara Johnson

[8] Will Wright played Ben Weaver in "The Christmas Story", "Andy Forecloses", and "The Merchant of Mayberry"

[9] Tol Avery played Ben Weaver in "The Shoplifters"

[10] Jason Johnson played Ben Weaver in "Aunt Bee Takes a Job" and "Goober's Replacement"

[11] Goober Pyle's last name is initially introduced as Goober Beasley

[12] Nelson first appeared as Nettie, a classmate who had a crush on Barney, in "The Return of Barney Fife"; appeared credited as "Waitress" in the Mayberry RFD episode "Emmett's Retirement"

[13] Jack Dodson first appeared on the show as Andy's insurance agent, Ed Jenkins

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v t e Mayberry, North Carolina
TV series	The Andy Griffith Show Episodes Characters Guest stars Theme music Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Episodes Characters Mayberry R.F.D. Episodes
Telefilm	Return to Mayberry
Main characters	Andy Taylor Opie Taylor Bee Taylor Barney Fife Elinor "Ellie" Walker Sam Jones Gomer Pyle Goober Pyle
Recurring characters	Ernest T. Bass Otis Campbell Helen Crump The Darlings Clara Edwards The Fun Girls Floyd Lawson Howard Sprague Thelma Lou
Related programs	No Time for Sergeants The Danny Thomas Show The Jim Nabors Hour The New Andy Griffith Show
Related topics	Desilu Productions Mayberry (song) Mayberry Machiavelli Mount Airy Mount Pilot Rural purge "What it Was, Was Football"