No one gets anywhere without some help from their friends. That statement is true everywhere, whether it's out in the big city or down home in little old Mayberry.

As both a singer and an actor, Jim Nabors had no shortage of talents to share with an audience. It's no wonder that when he guest-starred on the hit series The Andy Griffith Show, he made a big splash with viewers everywhere. Audiences were so taken with Gomer Pyle that he was actually given his own spinoff series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which premiered in 1964. Gomer Pyle went from a Mayberry gas station attendant to a United States Marine.

According to an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Nabors took the change in environment very seriously. Before he began filming, the actor took it upon himself to properly educate himself on the United States military. Gomer Pyle might be a bit too clueless for his own good, but Jim Nabors was a smart man, and he wanted to be as educated as possible if he was going to star in his own series.

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"I started visiting marine bases in Southern California. I studied training manuals as though the drill instructor were really looking over my shoulder."

One of the requirements for the role was to know your way around a rifle, something Nabors was unfamiliar with. Luckily, he received help from an unlikely source.

"I had to learn how to handle a rifle," said Nabors. "You'll never guess who gave me pointers, Don Knotts - good old Barney Fife from the Griffith Show. Don was an army drill instructor during World War II and an expert in the manual of arms."