Did you recognize this famous Mayberry fishing spot in the Rifleman finale?

A quicksand scene from ''Old Tony'' also reportedly forced an actress to quit showbiz.

Hollywood has more than famous faces and an iconic hillside sign. The home of movie magic also features a particularly iconic body of water. No, not the Pacific Ocean. We're talking about Franklin Lake.

Does the name not ring a bell? How about one of its "roles," as Myers Lake in Mayberry? You know it as the idyllic fishin' hole frequented by the sheriff and his son Opie in the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show.

We've written about Franklin Lake before, detailing all the cool uses for this pond that sits high in the hills above Studio City. Star Trek beamed to its shores, the Bradys camped there, Simon and Garfunkel posed for an album cover in the park, the Creature from the Black Lagoon made waves in it, and Prince rode his motorcycle there in Purple Rain.

But today, we're going to focus on its appearance in a particularly notable piece of television. Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford) relaxed by the pond in "Old Tony," the series finale of The Rifleman. A young woman visits him there, Lorrie. Karen Sue Trent played the role. And the gig was so traumatic she quit the acting business. It was her final episode ever, too.

Trent and Crawford by Franklin Lake in ''Old Tony''

You might recognize her as Penny Woods, a classmate of Beaver Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver.

In this Rifleman finale, Trent's character sinks in quicksand. Filming the scene was just as perilous. According to the site Television's New Frontier, Trent "reportedly was injured filming a scene in which her character was trapped in quicksand, which prompted her to quit her acting career."

Trent dropped off the map following "Old Tony." A Rifleman fan site did manage to track her down years later, it seems. "I did get to talk to Karen. She was a very interesting person, I could relate to most of the things she had done. I loved listening to her stories. Had I know she wasn't going to get back with me, I would have taken better notes," the blogger wrote.

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40 Comments

LGLHillctest 35 months ago
My password or username I meant to have is:
LGLHILLCREST
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE MY MISTAKE. DO YOU FOLKS KNOW I MEANT HILLCREST. THE STREET. THE ONE THAT MAKES THE CORNER WITH CARMELITA.
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Grammy1 37 months ago
Just read this story about the last episode of the Rifleman so sorry that it's done
Joe1954 37 months ago
Really, how many people would recognize a grown woman as being Beaver's classmate?
HulkFan02 37 months ago
Darn, i didn't know she quited the show
37 months ago
PLEASE, ME TV, add SCTV, Fernwood 2Nite, Fernwood USA & Coronet Blue to your roster!
gene 37 months ago
Yayyyyyy the Jetsons are on this morning
pidge 37 months ago
I live three miles from Franklin Cyn.
MarinaCoates 37 months ago
This is a CG tour of The Andy Griffith Show home. Feels like Mayberry was real.
dangler1907 37 months ago
I live in a coastal area where tidal flats can be as frightening as "quick sand". It's possible to get stuck so deep in the mud that you can't get out ... while you watch the tide coming in and threatening to drown you. I learned that lesson once ... and never forgot it.
jrmaul 37 months ago
I have not been able to find proof anywhere that any Creature from the Black Lagoon filming was done at this location.
dangler1907 jrmaul 37 months ago
Which obviously proves there's a dark conspiracy. After all, the absence of evidence is PROOF that somebody is hiding something! ;)
Let me guess.....your circle of family and friends must be infested with delusional followers of the Great Orange Idol and their deranged conspiracy theories. You have my sympathy.
Tarashire DoubleNaughtSpy 37 months ago
Oh please can we not read an article about an iconic harmless television program without bringing the politics of hate into the discussion and this includes both sides. Give it a rest the election is over.
Claude DoubleNaughtSpy 37 months ago
You should face forward and take a real hard look at what You are so blindly following.
You might find that it is you who are the delusional one.
It's incredible how many idiots like you barely have a room temperature IQ, using an entertainment forum to spread your Leftist hatred. Please crawl back under your Marxist rock.
Joe1954 DoubleNaughtSpy 37 months ago
If anyone is infested and delusional, it would be you! yankeeskid61 beat me to it.
Joe1954 dangler1907 37 months ago
Absence of evidence is proof of nothing. You have to have some evidence to just suspect something is being hidden.
Kelley1 37 months ago
Once a site is on the potential filming location list, it's on there for good or just about so. Biltmore House has achieved restoration through such an arrangement (Richie Rich, among others). More than one show/movie was filmed in the house from the original Sabrina. I have a lot of fun looking for all the locations as I watch these shows. It fascinated me to see a high end neighborhood before it made good on Perry Mason. I remembered the site from a Matlock episode. The road was the same but there were houses there on Matlock.
MommaWolf2525 37 months ago
Back then show just ended. They didn’t tie them up with a complete ending that made sense.
Very true. It was a really big deal when "The Fugitive" ended with a two part episode tying up all the loose ends.
MichaelPowers 37 months ago
I recall that episodes of "The Wild Wild West" and "The Big Valley" were also shot at Franklin Lake.
GloryGrace 37 months ago
I didn't know that was the Finale! I have seen it a couple time and never realized that. I wish they would have ended shows better back then!
BobHunter GloryGrace 37 months ago
It was supposed to continue another year with the Rifleman marrying Patricia Blair's character but Connors wanted to move on to other things.
HopeChinWah BobHunter 36 months ago
I think it would have been better if he married Miss Milly.
AgingDisgracefully 37 months ago
Didn't they scrap a crossover episode where Lucas and Andy take Mark and Opie fishing before heading into town for Single Dad Support Group?
That would have been nearly a impossible concept. Seeing how The Rifleman was in the time period shortly after the Civil war and The Andy Griffith Show was in the 1950s. Mr. McCain would definitely be dead and most likely mark, and he would be really old if he was. But that would have been AMAZING!
One thing both shows have in common is fathers and sons being openly affectionate with each other. It would be nice to have seen a crossover, but there is that difference of almost 100 years to deal with...
Busted. You both ran rings 'round me logically.
I also now see this would have put Barney out of his deputy job with the Rifle Fella being available.
SteveThames 37 months ago
Karen sue Trent😁😳knew who she was immediately;Penny😁actually googled her to find out what happened to her
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