Aneta Corsaut and her Andy Griffith Show character had a few things in common

Helen Crump might've been fictional, but she and Corsaut were similar.

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Do you remember when Barney Fife and his girlfriend, Thelma Lou, decided it was time for Sheriff Andy Taylor to get acquainted with school teacher Helen Crump?

Fife and his gal had good intentions, hoping that the loveable Andy Taylor would eventually get married. So, the duo arranged an intimate dinner party for their friend and Crump at Thelma Lou's house. During a pre-dinner conversation, Crump revealed something that could've put a massive hole into their plan: she didn't know how to cook.

Aneta Corsaut played the school teacher that ended up being Taylor's (Andy Griffith) main love interest on The Andy Griffith Show. She was similar to Helen Crump in a few ways like being beautiful, young and single at the time. Yet, not cooking was the one that stood out the most. It wasn't that the actress couldn't cook at all, like her character, but she just didn't.

According to an article in The Shreveport Journal in 1964, Corsaut was a tomboy when she was younger and preferred "a baseball bat to a spatula." Then she went to college, and dormitory cooks cooked for her.

You're probably thinking, "Well, how did she survive when she got older?" Apparently, as a struggling actress in New York, she lived on a budget "which could barely buy beans, let alone a pot to cook them in."

When Corsaut finally achieved financial success, being close to a hot stove was the last thing on her mind when she returned home from hours on set. But she wasn't worried about the effects that not cooking would have on her life.

"Sometimes I think that the old saying about the way to a man's heart is just male propaganda to make women work for them," she said. "Once a man praises a meal, a woman spends the rest of her life trying to outdo herself."

Yet, if she met a man that was best for her and believed in that saying, Corsaut said she'd take on cooking. "I guess I'll take up cooking and spend the rest of my life trying to outdo myself. In the beginning, at least, that won't be very hard to do."

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11 Comments

TAGSfan4ever 16 months ago
There are other ways to cook and Ms. Corsaut likely knew them. Helen and Andy's characters were well written and the actors portrayed them convincingly.
surveyor 20 months ago
Sounds like she was one mean old broad.
MrsPhilHarris 20 months ago
I thought the story would be that she had a thing with Andy outside of the show. 🤭
surveyor MrsPhilHarris 20 months ago
I think she did?
MrsPhilHarris surveyor 20 months ago
Yup she did!
Mblack 20 months ago
This is why they invented Automats.
Pacificsun Mblack 20 months ago
In New York, maybe
But not here.
😉
LoveMETV22 20 months ago
Fun story. More a portrayal of the norms @ the time. But wonder about the cast, were any of them talented or aspiring chefs? I know there's an Aunt Bee Cookbook ( by Jim Clark and Ken Beck) but wonder if Frances Bavier was talented in that regard. ( I'll Google it).
surveyor LoveMETV22 20 months ago
May be wrong but I kind of think she cooked very little.
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