Good Ol’ Mayberry: Behind The Scenes Info, Shocking Scandals, And More

Ownership at 50

When the show was created by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith must have seen dollar signs. Andy was not into TV at that point but was spending his energies on films such as No Time For Sergeants and A Face in the Crowd. Well, not only did he agree to star in the show but he got himself half ownership of it.

Having half of the stake would lead to a later disagreement between him and his friend Knotts. As mentioned earlier, Knotts left the show because of a disagreement with the contract but he agreed to come back on one condition. That condition was that he have some of the stakes in the show. Andy thought he wanted some of his shares and easily told him no. It was all just a misunderstanding.