George Lindsey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Lindsey (born December 17, 1935) is an American character actor.
Born in Jasper, Alabama, near Birmingham, Lindsey graduated from Florence State College (now known as the University of North Alabama) with a Bachelor of Bioscience. Before moving to Los Angeles, he was a public high school teacher in Madison County, Alabama.
In 1964, he got his big break as the slow-witted but kindly hick "Goober Beasley" on the now legendary The Andy Griffith Show. His character was eventually renamed "Goober Pyle" to retain the same name as his cousin Gomer Pyle, another slow-witted yokel played by Jim Nabors (coincidentally another Alabama native). Goober's antics frequently included his exaggerated "Goober Dance" and his comically bad Cary Grant impression ("Judy, Judy, Judy"). After Griffith left his television show, CBS retooled it as Mayberry R.F.D. and Lindsey played the same character, until CBS cancelled R.F.D. in 1971. Later in the 1970s, Lindsey guest starred on "M*A*S*H" as Roy Dupree, a Southern surgeon working at the 8063rd Unit who switched places at the 4077th with Hawkeye Pierce.
Disney used his talents in a few projects, both as comedy support in features and voiceovers for a few of their animated characters. Three Disney animated features that presented the voice of Lindsey were The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973) and The Rescuers (1977).
Lindsey put on his "Goober" act for the third and last time on the long running syndicated country music variety show Hee Haw. He appeared on that show from 1972 to 1992.
Following Hee Haw, George "Goober" Lindsey had a short cameo in the Rose Bowl episode of NewsRadio, he was called as a witness in a civil case and asked only one question: "Mr. Lindsey, is this your skull?" He examined the skull and said, "no." At that point he was dismissed.
The State of Alabama named the "George Lindsey Highway" in Birmingham after the actor.
Interestingly, and perhaps incredibly, actor Leonard Nimoy has claimed that Lindsey was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's first choice of actor to play Spock. He said this during a series of interview clips on TV Land coinciding with the premier of Star Trek on that network. His tone of voice and the general tone of the interview, however, inidicate he may have been joking.
