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 ...