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13 familiar Mayberry faces (besides Don Knotts) that pop up in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Look for all these Andy Griffith Show actors in the spooky comedy!
Don Knotts left the comforts of The Andy Griffith Show at his peak. It was a bold move. He had racked up three Emmy wins for his work on the sitcom. But he wanted to try his luck on the big screen.
Knotts wisely stuck to familiar territory and familiar characters in his movies. A year after his final episode as a regular in Mayberry, "Opie Flunks Arithmetic," the shaky-kneed comedian appeared in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, the first film in his multi-picture deal with Universal Studios. For fans of The Andy Griffith Show, the spooky comedy felt like home.
Luther Heggs, Knott's character, wears the same salt-and-pepper suit often seen on Barney Fife. The plot itself is essentially a remake of the Andy Griffith Show episode "The Haunted House." The small town of Rachel City, Kansas, looks and feels a lot like Mayberry. (Hollywood backlots have a way of doing that.)
And the quirky citizens of Rachel City seemed right out of Mayberry — because many of them were!
Here are just some of the familiar Andy Griffith Show actors you can spot in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.
1. Hal Smith
Even with a bushy mustache, it's easy to spot the man who played Mayberry town drunk Otis Campbell. Smith was not credited in his role as Calver Weems. Perhaps because he hardly needed the credit — he was playing a town drunk once again.
2. Hope Summers
The opening scene sees Luther dealing with an unnerved Susanna Blush, played by Hope Summers. Like Smith, she went uncredited, as a sort of surprise for Mayberry fans, who knew her best as Clara Edwards, frenemy of Aunt Bee.
3. Burt Mustin
Luther lives in a boarding house with senior citizens, one of whom, Mr. Deligondo, is played by familiar Mayberry fellow Burt Mustin. He popped in several Andy episodes as Jud Fletcher (sometimes "Judd" or "Jubal").
4. Reta Shaw
Shaw and Knotts had worked together before, notably in "The Song Festers." She was Barney Fife's vocal coach, Eleanora Poultice.
5. Cliff Norton
Goober Pyle worked at Wally's Filling Station. Do you remember Wally himself? He appeared in just one episode, "Goober's Replacement," played by Cliff Norton. Here, he plays the baliff in the courtroom.
6. Ellen Corby
Ellen Corby is best known to TV fans as Grandma Walton. Mayberry fanatics will remember her as Myrt "Hubcaps" Lesh, who sells Barney his first car. Look for her on the witness stand in the film.
7. Robert Cornthwaite
Luther's lawyer, Springer, had his moment in Mayberry. He was Mr. Somerset, the state investigator, in "Dogs, Dogs, Dogs."
8. Jesslyn Fax
She later played Mrs. Le Grande in "Andy's Investment," which aired a year after the movie hit theaters.
9. Lurene Tuttle
Way back in early season one, she was Annabelle Silby in "Opie's Charity." She later appeared in "The Shoplifters," too.
10. Maxine Semon
She played Tillie Kincaid twice in Mayberry, seen here. She's a little harder to spot in Mr. Chicken, as she is uncredited as "Occult Clubwoman." Look for her wearing a lavender dress and holding the banner.
11. Charles Lane
Lane portrayed the other lawyer in the courtroom scene, Whitlow. In "Aunt Bee the Crusader," he had played Mr. Frisby, an old farmer in a straw hat, making the characters a little harder to match!
12. James Millhollin
Look for him as Mr. Milo Maxwell in the flick. In Mayberry, he shows up in the color episodes as Arnold Finch, seen here.
13. Jim Begg
The bespectacled Deputy Herkie is another fellow found in Sheriff Andy's domain. He's in four episodes of The Andy Griffith Show! He was both, blandly, "Young Man" and "Man." He meatiest Mayberry role was as Charles Keyes in "Aunt Bee, the Juror."
