George Lindsey, AKA Goober Pyle, has passed away

I saw George Lindsey live onstage at the Grand Ole Opry when I was six years old. Even at that young age, it was something of a surprise to hear that the man I knew best as Goober Pyle from The Andy Griffith Show could also sing really well too. He was performing right alongside Roy Aycuff, Grandpa Jones, a few other country legends.

What a performer Lindsey was. I mean, to go from playing sinister "tough guy" types (including one appearance on The Twilight Zone) to being one of the most beloved comedy characters in television history. In the past few years it was also revealed that George Lindsey was at one point seriously considered to be the actor who would play Spock on the original Star Trek series.

But it will always be Goober - Mayberry's fun-loving, ever-grinning grease monkey - who we will most fondly remember Lindsey as being. Somewhere here in North Carolina and in a better time still, Goober can be found even now down at the fillin' station. I've no doubt he'll be there as long as good television like The Andy Griffith Show is still on the air.

George Lindsey passed away yesterday at the age of 83.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.