Wait. Is this Officer Jim Reed on The Andy Griffith Show?

Did the Adam-12 star sneak into this scene with Sheriff Andy?

Kent McCord is best known for playing Officer Jim Reed on Adam-12. With his strong dark eyebrows and firm square chin, he's as handsome as any 1960s TV leading man, and for that reason, he became extremely recognizable to fans once his show debuted in 1968 and it became a big hit.

But before Adam-12 came along, McCord got his first big break on TV by playing himself ("Kent") on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. From 1962 to 1966, he was a recurring character on that popular family sitcom.

And many fans know how McCord got that break. You see, McCord didn't study acting, he was actually a big jock who loved to toss around a football. By chance, this love of sports led him to start getting pulled into pick-up games with major celebrities including Elvis Presley and Ozzie and Harriet rising star Ricky Nelson, and these stars became fast friends with McCord. So they helped him get cast in their projects. In an interview, McCord once talked about this rather whimsical start to his acting career, explaining that once he befriended Nelson, he got really used to just walking into studios and looking for extra work.

So if you look at his film credits, you'll see that while he was appearing on Ozzie and Harriet, he was also taking tiny background parts on Elvis movies, too, while also appearing in completely random projects, including an episode of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's earlier TV series The Lieutenant.

Do you think that makes it perfectly plausible then that he could've just as easily walked onto the set and got some extra work on another big Sixties show?

You see, there’s a scene in The Andy Griffith Show episode "Barney's Uniform" where Kent McCord's biggest fans will swear to you, the Adam-12 star appears.

What do you think — is that Kent McCord?

It happens about 13 minutes into the episode, when Sheriff Andy goes to visit a judo class after Barney gets bullied earlier in the episode. Just as Andy walks into the class, look at the man wearing dark sweats right in front of the room divider between Andy and the rest of the class.

This man has McCord's strong dark eyebrows and firm square chin — but do you think it's really him? For what it's worth, there is no mention of Kent McCord in The Definitive Andy Griffith Show Reference: Episode-by-Episode, with Cast and Production Biographies and a Guide to Collectibles, an invaluable resource for fans.

It would be difficult to say for sure, because it looks like none of McCord's credited projects in 1964 were filmed on the Desilu backlot where The Andy Griffith Show was filmed. And although Roddenberry did go to Desilu to pitch Star Trek in 1964, the same year McCord appeared on Roddenberry's earlier show The Lieutenant, it's unlikely Roddenberry would've brought along one of his extras like one of McCord's loyal football buddies like Elvis or Ricky.

Unless Kent McCord happens to see this post to clarify in the comments, it may just have to remain one of the rare Mayberry mysteries.

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37 Comments

GrannyHill 14 months ago
According to iMDB, that is Kent McCord, uncredited.
jeremylr 14 months ago
Kent McCord confirmed to me in a December 2022 phone interview that this photo is indeed him from "The Andy Griffith Show" episode "Barney's Uniform." We did the interview to commemorate the 37th anniversary of his pal Rick Nelson's tragic death in a fiery New Year's Eve plane landing.

https://medium.com/@jeremylr/kent-mccords-tribute-to-best-friend-rick-nelson-521ae29c6548
DanUff 42 months ago
Just goes to show the old saying, "You never know where you'll end up." :-)
GloryGrace 42 months ago
I took this picture to my mom zoomed in and asked he who she thought it was. Not mentioning the article name or anything, just walked up with the zoomed picture and asked her who she thought it was. She said Kent McCord or possibly Ricky Nelson. So it probably is him. She is really good with faces, even when the are older she can still recognize them. She also has had some training in face recognition for when she was manager of a bank. So that is a 99.9% him.
Olivia_Reed 42 months ago
More info from Kent himself here: https://kentmccord.com/news/index.html
Olivia_Reed 42 months ago
Yes, that's absolutely Kent sitting there.
Ann 42 months ago
Kent McCord appeared on Dragnet under his birth name Kent McWhirter
MikefromJersey 42 months ago
In 4th season episode of McHales Navy, "Secret Chimp 007", McCord is a motorcycle dispatch rider who delivers a message to Captain Binghampton's office. I believe at the end he is determined to be the source of a security leak(he's a German spy) though he is not seen again. Of course another
scene with him could have been cut to fit in more commercials for the reruns.
In the credits he is listed as Kent -, I forgot the name but it wasn't McCord.
Oscar 42 months ago
I believe that to be McCord. The hair, eyes, eyebrows, cheekbones, ears, forearms, etc, are his or his body double. He was a body guard for Rick Nelson and I think that's how he got the small part as Rick's college buddy on 'Ozzie & Harriet'. Kent McCord looks a lot like Rick Nelson in this picture.
Wiseguy 42 months ago
A scene of a series is a highly organized event. Anybody who is there is supposed to be there. Nobody can crash a scene. IF it is he in the scene then either he was hired or it was joke. And in either case it probably wouldn't stay a secret for 50+ years.
DougHendricks 42 months ago
i would say that's definitely McCord



diskobean 42 months ago
To me, that's without a doubt McCord. Same build, hair and square chin. I am very good at telling people apart and that looks exactly like him, IMO 😎👍

Would be really cool to reach out to him somehow and ask the man himself though 😅
F5Twitster 42 months ago
"It would be difficult to say for sure, because it looks like none of McCord's credited projects in 1964 were filmed on the Desilu backlot where The Andy Griffith Show was filmed."

Desilu LOT, where the soundstages and production and executive offices, craft shops, wardrobe and prop departments, film vaults, etc. are, NOT backlot, where there're only standing exterior sets.
Tlor 42 months ago
To be honest it doesn't look like him to me. There was a lot of guys with similar looks that played extras maybe it was McCord's stand in and not the man at all.
Olivia_Reed Tlor 42 months ago
He wouldn't have had a stand-in back then.
PWPyle 42 months ago
This is obviously Kent McCord. Extras on TAGS never got billing. There is one very regular extra that know one knows who he is...no payroll records, nothing. So it's not unusual that there is no record of McCord being on this episode.
Mikecole230 42 months ago
I have seen every episode of Andy Griffith Show but I dont remember kent on that episode I'm sure i'ts him!!
DesertRat 42 months ago
It does look like Kent, but the hair is parted on the other side. People usually don't change that unless styles change, or they have to. Couldn't find any other pictures around that time-frame of Kent parting his hair the other way. As others have said, the only way to know for sure is to ask him.
Olivia_Reed DesertRat 42 months ago
He parted his hair in this picture as he always parted it: on his left side. It's HIM.
Willie 42 months ago
Ask Kent McCord. Where is he?
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