An actor can play a character so convincingly that viewers start to forget where the character ends and the real person begins. Hal Smith learned that lesson the hard way.

As Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show, Smith played Mayberry’s lovable town drunk, a character who frequently stumbled into the jail after having a little too much to drink.

Here's the good news: Hal Smith, the actor, was nothing like Otis, the character. Smith wasn’t exactly spending his days stumbling around Mayberry with a bottle in hand.

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In fact, according to an interview with The Miami Herald, Smith was willing to bet that he drank less than the average man, and certainly less than many of his fellow actors. That didn’t stop some viewers from assuming Smith and Otis were one and the same.

"Strangers come up to me and ask if I’m sober," Smith said. "Others are surprised to see me walking the streets, figuring I should be in jail."

Apparently, Otis’ reputation followed Smith well beyond the Mayberry jailhouse. It even followed him to his son’s school.

"My boy goes to a private school, and when I take him there, the other kids give me funny looks," Smith said to The Times Recorder. "I don’t know if they think I’m an actor or a drunk. I am sure my boy knows this is show business."

For Smith, the confusion was apparently more amusing than insulting. And there was another benefit to playing Otis: The role didn’t exactly require him to break a sweat.

"I do a show on the average of once every three weeks, and I think that’s good," Smith said. "The town drunk could get obnoxious."

Smith had a point. There’s only so much stumbling, slurring, and sleeping off a hangover a man can do before even the town drunk needs a day off.