Is this the most mysterious lovely lady we ever met in Mayberry?

Josie Lloyd emerged from her father Norman Lloyd's shadow on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but later she just disappeared.

Out of all the lovely ladies who ever appeared in Mayberry, we think the actor Josie Lloyd might be the most mysterious.

On The Andy Griffith Show, she appeared four times from 1961 to 1965. For her first two appearances, she played Mayor Pike's daughter, initially called Juanita and then called Josephine. After that, she became the character Lydia Crosswaithe, a "Debbie Downer" who was buddies with Thelma Lou.

As Lydia, most fans know she got to go on a date with Sheriff Andy soon after he breaks up with Peggy in "Barney Mends a Broken Heart." Lydia is one of the first girls Barney sets Andy up with, but her personality just wasn’t the right fit with Andy's nature. We all know he was biding his time, waiting for Helen.

In her final appearance as Lydia, Lloyd got another date with one of Mayberry's most memorable faces: Goober Pyle.

In "Goober and the Art of Love," Goober ends up so nervous, he brings Lydia over to where Andy, Helen, Barney and Thelma Lou are playing bridge. The joke persists throughout the episode that Lydia, again and again, brings the mood down with her dreary talk every time Goober brings her around.

The Andy Griffith Show welcomed Josie Lloyd as a fine actor with charming talents who ended up creating a very colorful character in her portrayal of Lydia Crosswaithe. This was near the very beginning of Lloyd's career, with only one a few TV roles under her belt, starting with a 1959 appearance on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

No doubt that Lloyd's dad hooked her up with Hitch.

Josie is the daughter of Norman Lloyd, a producer on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and prolific actor who appeared in Hitchcock's series and his films. Josie seemed to be following in her father's footsteps in the Sixties with roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, My Three Sons, Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel and other shows, but then abruptly, in 1967, she stopped acting and shied away from the spotlight into private life for good.

Why?

As Lydia Crosswaithe, we were used to seeing Lloyd act modest and demure, but this seemed very different. The actor seemed to be simply done with public life.

And she stuck to it. That's why not much is known about what Lloyd did after she quit acting, and only a little bit is known about her early life. She's a mystery to us, but we did find out a little about what her life was like growing up.

In her dad's autobiography, Stages of Life in Theatre, Film and Television, Norman Lloyd wrote that up until Josie was two years old, she was living with her mother Peggy in New York, while her dad in California prepared for his film debut as the titular villain (with a famous scream and a ripped sleeve) in the Hitchcock movie Saboteur. Lloyd juggled both households, swapping coasts to take roles on Broadway and in Hollywood, right up until he moved his family to Hollywood for good in 1944.

By that point, Josie wasn't even 5 years old, so you could say she pretty much grew up in Hollywood.

The story goes that she started tagging along with Norman to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents set when she was a teenager, and by 19, she had apparently observed enough to secure a speaking part in an episode. Her acting career took off from there, but not much else is known once she stopped taking roles, except a brief mention in a Variety obituary for her mom Peggy Lloyd from 2011 that says Peggy was survived by her two children.

But did you know that before Goober took Lydia out on a date, George Lindsey actually met Josie's father first?

Lindsey also acted in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, working with Norman Lloyd on a segment called "The Jar." Lindsey said when he showed up to audition, they'd already cast the part, but after he read, he was so good that they changed their minds, resulting in some of his favorite acting work he ever did onscreen.

The very next year, Lindsey met Norman's daughter Josie on their big date in Mayberry. That part seemed destined, even if Josie ultimately decided her acting career was not meant to be

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43 Comments

MikeyMello 37 months ago
Great Lydia quotes....” I hate the guitar” “I get the herpes”...Andy to Goober: “Will you please tell Lydia to quit hanging her head out the window like a dog?” I wish she would have been in more episodes!!!!
JHP 37 months ago
Lovely?

Jan Shutan...hands down - or somewhere else:)
JHP 32 months ago
Jan Shutan projected so much warmth, was so beautiful, she showed up Aneta Corseaut for the cold, humorless, jealous, charismatically-challenged grouch she appeared to be. I wish the show's producers had hired Jan as Andy's love interest, rather than Corseaut. Of course, ol' Aneta jumped right in the sack with married Andy the day they met, and Jan Shutan was waaay too classy to do same.
JHP Pilaf 32 months ago
said it before will say it again - man what a HOTTIE
37 months ago
She was a delight, insanely funny and absolutely unique.
denny 38 months ago
Below is a photo of Josie on a website dated 2013. Not sure when picture was taken though.
Sooner 38 months ago
Seems like if you're going to write an article on what happened to her, you could put a bit more effort into finding out. In this technical age, it doesn't seem like it would be that hard. This tells us nothing about her life after acting.
Rick Sooner 38 months ago
She has actively avoided the limelight. She declines interviews and has no internet presence.
Wiseguy 38 months ago
I wondered why she was in so many Hitchcock episodes. I didn't connect the two "Lloyd" names. In fact, there was a John Lloyd in many episode (production) credits. I don't know if he was related to them or not.
dangler1907 38 months ago
Hardly a mystery. Hollywood was full of celebrity kids who lived comfortably on mom or dad's wealth and had no interest in the cutthroat competitive world of film and TV. The good thing is that she left room for someone else who did have the drive and the need to succeed.
MaryMitch 38 months ago
Norman Lloyd is still active - at 106!
JohnGibbons 38 months ago
In Goobers first appearance his last name was Beasley. Maybe he had a secret marriage with Juanita.
harlow1313 JohnGibbons 38 months ago
The union produced Goobette. The little darling wore a cap with points, just like her dad.
JHP harlow1313 37 months ago
and she founded chocolate covered peanuts :)
Greg 38 months ago
At that time the name Wanita the anglicized version of Juanita was popular. I would bet it was Wanita in the scripts.
Rick 38 months ago
She's a great talent. Lydia was hilarious, but so was the character of Mayor Pike's daughter, singing "Flow Gently, Sweet Avon" to a Hollywood producer.

Norman Lloyd, who was in Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck" in 2015, mentioned in an interview his daughter was so disgusted by the movie she walked out of it. I suspect that was Ms. Josie Lloyd.
JosephScarbrough Rick 38 months ago
Honestly, anything Amy Schumer does is disgusting.
gracie200 JosephScarbrough 38 months ago
agreed....i am not an amy schumer fan at all.
Fuming Rick 38 months ago
It would seem that Joise has good taste.
When people challenge the status quo, they are often criticized. But without them, we'd still be glued to Father Knows Best, believing that's how real people lived.
denny Rick 38 months ago
Trainwreck was a train wreck. I tried watching it years ago and couldn't get through it. This was before my dislike of her and LeBron James.
McBub 38 months ago
Nice article. “Art of Love” was on last night. I loved the character Lydia. Wish she had been in more episodes, especially in some scenes with Floyd. That would make for some hilarious exchanges.
MichaelShaw 38 months ago
Juanita at the diner was far more mysterious. I found the writing quite readable and interesting, by the way.
MichaelShaw MichaelShaw 38 months ago
Plug the story into Grammarly and it scored a 96. While you might not have enjoyed the content, it was well-written.
Deleted 38 months ago
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DoubleNaughtSpy 38 months ago
Agreed. This article was a complete waste of bandwidth.
Wiseguy 38 months ago
Check any Internet forum or comment section. Most of the USA seems to have skipped English classes.
Altitude5280 38 months ago
I couldn’t stand that Lydia Crosswaithe character.
harlow1313 Altitude5280 38 months ago
Your taste in women leaves much to be desired. I crave the Crosswaithe! She's super freaky!
Wiseguy harlow1313 38 months ago
Everyone has an opinion and not everybody is going to agree with you.
harlow1313 Wiseguy 38 months ago
No, say it isn't so. I find this hard to believe.
Altitude5280 32 months ago
Couldn't disagree with you more!
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harlow1313 38 months ago
Personally, I dig her cause she's a super freak, super freak, she's super freaky.
ncadams27 38 months ago
Was this the same Juanita (the mayor’s daughter) who worked at the diner and Barney dated? The writers never did explore that avenue. They could have done a spin-off called Mayberry Diner featuring some of the Mayberry minor characters such as Ben Weaver and Jud Fletcher. Juanita, of course, is the waitress. Otis Campbell is the cook (when sober).
LarryAJacobsen ncadams27 38 months ago
Barney's Juanita last name was Beasley, not the mayor's daughter. We never saw that Juanita, just Barney calling her on the courthouse phone.
ncadams27 LarryAJacobsen 38 months ago
Maybe Beasley was her married name.
LarryAJacobsen 37 months ago
I thought Barney's Juanita was named Juanita Beasley. I think her full name was mentioned more than once on TAGS.
harlow1313 38 months ago
"Goober and the Art of Love" is perhaps my favorite episode of TAGS.

I find Lydia Crosswaithe to be right foxy. If I might borrow words from Gomer in reference to Mary Grace, "She's nice. Real nice!"
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