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One fascinating thing about the show is that some characters are so strong you think they were in scores of episodes, yet, in reality, they were in very few. Ernest T. Bass comes to mind. This character portrayed by Howard Morris was only on five episodes, although Morris appeared on one other as a television repairman. His voice was on two different episodes. The character was so strong people assumed he was on many more.


Of the 249 episodes (250 if you count the Pilot, which I do) filmed, only Andy himself appeared in all of them. Surprisingly, Ron Howard came in second with 202 (plus 41 credits only, plus the Pilot) appearances. Frances Bavier ("Aunt Bee") appeared on 175 (including the Pilot plus 13 credits only), while Don Knotts was on 142 (plus 21 credits only). Surprisingly, no other character reached the 100-show mark. George Lindsey, Howard McNear, and Aneta Corsaut were the only ones to appear in at least 50 episodes. Jack Dodson, Hope Summers, and Hal Smith made over 30 appearances. Betty Lynn made 26 and Jim Nabors 23 episodes. All others were fewer than 20 episodes, including "Emmett Clark," "Ellie Walker" and "Warren Ferguson." Even "Ernest T. Bass" and "The Darlings" made fewer than ten episodes. The writing, casting, and directing were so flawless that it makes you think they were on most of the episodes.


It all started as an episode of Make Room For Daddy with Danny Thomas in an episode entitled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith," which aired on February 15, 1960. This show introduced the world to Mayberry, North Carolina, widower Sheriff Andy Taylor, and his son Opie. Francis Bavier also appeared in this episode but not as "Aunt Bee." She was "Henrietta Perkins." Others later appearing on The Andy Griffith Show include Will Wright, Frank Cady, and Rance Howard. This pilot episode was the true beginning of the show.


During the shows run, many actors and actresses that went on to star in movies and television shows appeared, including Barbara Eden, Buddy Ebsen, Edgar Buchanan, Don Rickles, Bob Denver, Alan Hale, Jr., Frank Cady, Alvy Moore, Sid Melton, Mary Grace Canfield, Hank Patterson, Howard Hesseman (credited as Don Sturdy), James Best, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Gavin MacLeod, Julie Adams, Dabbs Greer, Rob Reiner, Denver Pyle, Bo Hopkins, Lee Van Cleef, Helen Kleeb, Mary Jackson, Dub Taylor, Richard Bull, Karl Swenson, Ellen Corby, Arte Johnson, Dick Haynes, Terri Garr, Elinor Donahue, and Ronnie Schell, George Nader and Casey Adams (aka Max Showalter). Even Jack Nicholson made two appearances on the show! Actors Howard Morris "Ernest T. Bass" and Richard Crenna directed eight TAGS episodes.


Barbara Griffith, Andy Griffith's first wife, appeared in one episode. Andy's father, Carl Lee Griffith, appears as "The man with the brown paper package" in the episode "The Farmer Takes a Wife." Ron Howard's father, Rance, and brother, Clint, appeared in some episodes.


My list only includes the announcer Colin Male for his appearance onscreen as a forest ranger on the show. Colin Male was the announcer for over 90 of the early episodes. I consider the announcer similar to a crew member, director, etc., but not a cast member. That is just my personal view, and others no doubt will disagree.


Over 600 actors appeared on the show, not counting "Dolly the Horse" or "Old Sam the Fish." Close to 500 had "credited" roles. Scores of "extras" would likely push the list up much higher. Many unknown extras are shown in various group scenes during the show, such as Barney returning and the class reunion show.


The names below with ** after them have exemplars shown herein. The following is a list of cast members on at least five episodes, excluding Colin Male. I thought about Thomas Jacobs and Joe Crehan since they were primarily extras, but I have left them on the list.  Jacobs is listed with 72 episodes but credited in only two of those.  Crehan was in at least 13 episodes, but like Jacobs credited only in two.

The number of episodes below are on screen only.  For example, Don Knotts is credited with 162 episodes but was only seen in 141 of those.  He was named in the credits of 21 episodes that he did not appear in.  I have only used the 141 that he was actually seen.    Ron Howard is more complicated since technically in the opening credits he and Andy appear in all the episodes.   He is credited in 243 episodes but only appears on screen in 202.  He is credit only in 41 episodes.

Andy Griffith "Andy Taylor" 249 episodes**(plus the Pilot)
Ron Howard "Opie Taylor" 202 **(plus the Pilot)
Frances Bavier "Aunt Bee Taylor" 175** (plus the Pilot)
Don Knotts "Barney Fife" 141**
George Lindsey "Goober Pyle" 86**
Howard McNear "Floyd Lawson" 80**
Tom Jacobs "Councilman" and "Mayberry Citizen" (72)
Aneta Corsaut "Helen Crump" 66**
Jack Dodson "Howard Sprague" 38**
Hope Summers "Clara Edwards" 32**
Hal Smith "Otis Campbell" 32**
Betty Lynn "Thelma Lou" 26**
Jim Nabors "Gomer Pyle" 23**
Paul Hartman "Emmett Clark) 16**
Mary Lansing "Martha Clark" 15
Burt Mustin "Jud Fletcher & others" 14**
Robert McQuain "Joe Waters & others" 14
Richard Keith "Johnny Paul Jason" 13**
Joseph Crehan "Mayberry Citizen" 13**
Elinor Donahue "Ellie Walker" 12**
Jack Burns "Warren Ferguson" 11**
Dick Elliott "Mayor Pike" 11**
Joseph H. Hamilton "Mayberry Citizen" 11**
Sheldon Collins "Arnold Bailey" 9**
Roy Engel "Mayberry Citizen" 8**
Allan Melvin "Various Parts" 8**
Dennis Rush "Howie Pruitt" 8 **
Howard Morris "Ernest T. Bass" 8**
Rhonda Jeter "Karen Burgess & others" 8
Parley Baer "Mayor Stoner" 7**
Charles P. Thompson "Old Asa" later "Doc Roberts" 7**
William Keene "Rev. Tucker" 6
Jack Prince "Rafe Hollister" 6**
Janet Stewart (Bernice and others) 6
Forrest Lewis (Cy Hudgins; Mayberry Citizen) 6**
Joy Ellison (Effie Muggins and others) 6
Cheerio Meredith "Emma Brand" 6**
Norman Leavitt ("Wally" and others) 6**
Maggie Peterson Mancuso "Charlene Darling" 6**
Denver Pyle "Briscoe Darling" 6**
Doug Dillard (Darling brother) 6**
Rodney Dillard (Darling brother) 6**
Mitch Jayne (Darling brother) 6**
Dean Webb (Darling brother) 6**
Olan Soule (Choirmaster John Masters/hotel clerk) 5**
Jason Johnson (Mr. Weaver & others) 5
Frank Ferguson (Mr. Foley, Sam Lindsey, Wilbur Pine) 5**
Amzie Strickland (Myra Tucker & others) 5**
Sherwood Keith (Sam) 5 **
Warren Parker (County Fair Judge) 5
George Cisar [NOT the baseball player with the same name] (Cyrus Tankersley) 5
Frank Warren (Art Crowley the grocer) 5
Ruth Thom (Ella Carson) 5
Maudie Prickett (Aunt Nora and Mrs. Larch) 5**
Clint Howard (Leon) 5**
Sam Edwards (Tom Bedlow & others) 5**

These figures change as I find other episodes. To make these autographs a bit easier for people to see, I will make a list of the autographs in the reply section below. That way, if you are looking for a particular individual, you can scroll down to find them in this discussion. The autographs below are people who were on at least two episodes of the show. There is another discussion for those that appeared on only one show and another for "extras."

Jack Dodson "Howard Sprague"
Hope Summers "Clara"
Sheldon Collins "Arnold"
Allan Melvin. Many roles.
James Best. "Jim Lindsey"
Joseph H. Hamilton. "Jase," "Choney," and "Chester Jones"
Mary Treen. "Rose" and "Clara Lindsey."
Jonathan Hole "Orville Monroe" in three episodes.
Richard Keith (aka Keith Thibodeaux)
Margaret Kerry
Ron Howard
Sam Edwards
Burt Mustin
Byron Foulger
Arthur Malet
Denver Pyle
Doug Dillard
Rodney Dillard
Mitch Jayne
Dean Webb
Maggie Peterson
Doodles Weaver (aka Red Marshall)
Joe Crehan
Parley Baer
Rance Howard
Emory Parnell
Joyce Jameson
Amzie Strickland
Jack Burns
Ken Lynch
Thomas Jacobs
Chubby Johnson
Arthur Hunnicutt
Richard Poston
Jon Lormer
James McCallion
Richard Collier
Paul Hartman
Dennis Rush
Sherwood Keith
Tod Andrews (AKA Michael Ames)
Robert Emhardt
Sylvia Lewis
Howard McNear
Dick Elliott
Charles P. Thompson

Tags: Andy, Bavier, Don, Frances, Griffith, Howard, Jack, Ken, Knotts, Lynch, More…Nicholson, Ron

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Replies to This Discussion

Jonathan Hole played the part of Orville Monroe who was Mayberry's Funeral Director/Television Repairman and member of the town council.

RICHARD KEITH (aka Keith Thibodeaux) appeared in 13 episodes of TAGS 12 as Opie's best friend "Johnny Paul Jason."   He is even more famous for his role as "Little Ricky" the drum playing son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on I Love Lucy.    Keith appeared on 24 episodes of that show and an additional 13 episodes of The Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour.   This is an in person autograph from his first convention in New Jersey a few years ago.

MARGARET KERRY (1929-     )  is perhaps best known as the Disney model for Tinker Bell and was the voice of the mermaid in the movie Peter Pan.  She appeared in the Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis movie If You Knew Susie.  In 1950 she did an episode of The Lone Ranger.  She was in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show in both shows she played Sam Edwards wife but in one she was "Bess Muggins" and another "Helen Scobey."  This is a recent autograph.

MARGARET KERRY Disney star and featured prominently in The Andy Griffith Show Christmas episode and one other.  This is a 1987 signature from the famed John Verzi Collection.

RON HOWARD is probably better known by those under 50 as a Director or perhaps Richie Cunningham from Happy Days than Opie from TAGS.   His autograph commands a fair bit since he apparently does not sign a lot of stuff anymore.  This is a collector's card.

He is getting tougher and tougher to find - authentic signed items anyway.

Yes I think that is right and there are some bad forgeries of his I have seen on eBay in late years.

Ron Howard signed in green.

SAM EDWARDS (1915-1984) had recurring roles on Little House on the Prarie,and The Andy Griffith Show.  He appeared in television shows such as Gunsmoke, The Virginian,  Kolchak The Night Stalker, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction , and  I Love Lucy.  He was on 5 episodes of TAGS including the classic 1960 Christmas Episode.  This is a signed index card probably from the 1970s.

BURT MUSTIN (1884-1977) was in so many movies and television shows it is difficult to count.  He was "Gus the Fireman" on 14 episodes of  Leave it to Beaver.  He was on two Twilight Zone episodes and two of The Lucy Show.  His 14 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show ranks him number 15 as far as appearances go.  He is actually tied with Robert McQuain but Mustin's roles were more notable.  Burt Mustin was one of the few that was on TAGS, Mayberry R.F.D. and The New Andy Griffith Show.  He was also in the Don Knotts movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.  He was on a few episodes of All in the Family, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and was "Uncle Finney" in a classic episode of Gunsmoke.  Accordin  Classic Entertainment Autographs his autograph is "extremely rare."  He has only had two for sale and I have only seen a dozen or so examples over the years.    There was a J. Burton Mustin from Pittsburgh (the hometown of Burt Mustin) so anyone needs to aware of this since at least one of letter of that "Burt Mustin" was on eBay.   This is from one of ALS from my collection.

The imdb has been changing the number of episodes for some of the TAGS actors.  They are currently showing the number of "credited" episodes someone was on.   I personally prefer if a person appears on screen they should be counted whether or not they are in the credits.  Very few TAGS extras were credited.  In the case of Burt Mustin the current imdb listing shows him as a "credit only" for the episode "The Mayberry Band."   Within the first minute of the episode up pops Burt Mustin who starts to talk to Andy!   A screenshot from that episode is below.  While I no doubt have some errors in the number of episodes given for some of the TAGS actors it is an evolving process.  In this instance imdb is incorrect.  My listing of him as being on 14 episodes is correct.

I submitted a correction to imdb, so will see what happens.  

BURT MUSTIN 

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