Actor George Lindsey, who played bumbling Goober Pyle on the 1960s TV series “The Andy Griffith Show,” died on today. He was 83.
Lindsey died in Nashville, Tennessee, after a brief illness, according to a statement from the Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home.
In a statement released by the funeral home, actor Andy Griffith said he considered Lindsey, who was active in raising money for the Special Olympics, a friend as well as a former colleague.
Griffith, 85, praised Lindsey’s spirit and talent, and said they had often talked by phone in recent years.
“I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our eighties, we were not afraid to say, ‘I love you,'” Griffith said.
Born in Fairfield, Alabama, in 1928, Lindsey was active in theater in high school and college, an obituary posted on the funeral home’s website said.
After graduating from Florence State Teachers College, military service and a brief stint as a teacher, Lindsey used GI Bill money to study at the American Theater Wing, the obituary said.
Lindsey’s early work in Hollywood was in small parts on TV shows such as “The Rifleman,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Twilight Zone.”
