Betty Lynn's last appearance on Matlock came in this Christmas episode

Griffith pushed producers to cast her on the show. Do you know why Lynn quit?

In the first season of Matlock, Andy Griffith floated an idea by his new show’s producers. He suggested his old Mayberry friend Betty Lynn might make for a good secretary for Ben Matlock, and producers agreed that Lynn fit the role.

Once it was decided that Betty Lynn was in, Griffith himself wrote out some scenes to showcase the Thelma Lou actor from The Andy Griffith Show.

"Andy has written a few little scenes just for me, very funny," Lynn told The Alternative Press in 1986, when it was announced that she too would join Matlock.

Lynn wasn’t sure at that point how long her secretary character Sarah would last on the show. She told the Press that all she hoped was that her scenes were funny enough not to get cut from that first episode.

But Lynn’s scenes, of course, were funny enough, and she would go on to appear in four Matlock episodes before she and Griffith, unfortunately, had a falling out.

The story goes that Lynn liked being on Matlock but wanted more lines. She went to Andy to see what he could do, and instead of hearing her complaints out, Lynn said he shut them down.

"They let me go as soon as they could," Lynn said. "I was upset with him because he wouldn’t listen."

Her final appearance on Matlock came in a Christmas episode called "Santa Claus."

In "Santa Claus," Matlock winds up defending a street Santa accused of killing his heartless landlord who was trying to evict tenants during the holidays.

If you’re a fan of The Andy Griffith Show, you might recognize that the actor playing Santa in this episode is another familiar face from Mayberry.

In a sixth season episode of The Andy Griffith Show called "Wyatt Earp Rides Again," Pat Hingle, who plays Matlock’s accused Santa, appears as a promoter of a wild west show that’s come to Mayberry. It’s a memorable episode because it ends with Griffith challenged to a duel!

The duel between Lynn and Griffith was a much more serious matter than the one that Sheriff Andy diffused on The Andy Griffith Show, though.

Lynn wouldn’t speak to Griffith for 20 years after she left Matlock.

In the end, they were able to bury the hatchet, though, when Griffith called up Lynn one day out of the blue to ask for acting advice.

After all those years, he still knew she was the best person to call, and she still had that sweet forgiving nature that allowed her to pick up his call. After that, they were friends again until the end.

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74 Comments

bagandwallyfan52 35 months ago
If Don Knotts (Barney FIFE)
Had stayed on TAGS then most likely Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou)
Would have stayed on TAGS.
I also likes Barney's second
Girlfriend Hilda Mae played by
Florence McMichael.
Miss Rose Mary was Barney's first girlfriend on one episode only
Andy Taylor s Girlfriend s
Ellie Walker
Mary Simpson
Peggy MacMillan
Alice Bordon
Goobers Girlfriend
Flora Mallorby
I left out Helen Crump.
GordARebelato 36 months ago
Seems like Andy liked control no matter what show he was on.
AnnieM 36 months ago
I just noticed this a day or two ago - Ms Lynn's estate is being auctioned off online thru 12/30/21. Here's a link to the catalog: https://www.rogersauctiongroup.com/auctions/detail/bw73598
Hilary 36 months ago
This article made me sad. Few people know that Ms Lynn would come one day a week to the Mayberry Museum to sign autographs. She had relocated to the are as she found it charming. She did that until she passed.
Runeshaper 36 months ago
I'm glad that they were able to make up in the end.
JHP 36 months ago
I know why she quit

She had to hunt BARNAY down and kick his sorry po-po for running around with Juanita
bagandwallyfan52 36 months ago
METV Comment line Persons
I can't believe it.
WISEGUY has done the
IMPOSSIBLE.
WISEGUY has VANISHED INTO
THIN AIR. TV characters ED
SAWYER and Lucy Mathews
Also disappeared into thin air
And disappeared from Mayberry
Completely after The "Stranger
In Town " Episode of The Andy
Griffith Show.
Ed Sawyer told Andy Taylor that
Mayberry was his Hometown
And that he had a crush on
Lucy Mathews and that he
WAS Movind to Mayberry.
Yet during the Entire 8 Years of
The Andy Griffith Show and.the Entire 3 years of Mayberry RFD
Ed Sawyer must have been
Hiding in Mayberry because
After the TAGS episode
Stranger In Town Ed Sawyer
Was never seen or heard from
Again. Maybe Ed Sawyer and
Lucy Mathews. Eloped and
Moved somewhere else.
Anyway WISEGUY is another
Ed Sawyer because Wiseguy
Has vanished in a Poof.
In real life Judge Crater and
Airplane hijacker DB Cooper
Vanished into Thin Air .
And DB Cooper became a
FOOTNOTE In HISTORY.
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LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 35 months ago
Pssst over here next to the tree by the tent. Thank you for echoing my response. I applaud your comment in the RIP Betty room: "TV’s have remote control" to another" etc....However now that user is dropping your sn in comments. A simple thank you to you from that user should have been sufficient. But oh well. Things are to stirred up in that room and out of focus, you made very good comments that most did not pick up on. lets remember BW for her contributions not her age.
So your comments are seen and appreciated by some.
Pacificsun LoveMETV22 35 months ago
Thank you, and yes I understand your point. If an argument develops with another, I will remind the doer to drop my sn clear and simply. I do not want to get rolled up into those monologues. There is an easy way to clean up all that stuff, so we'll wait and see. I appreciate the tip! TY!
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 35 months ago
Hello: In response to- "I have a funny feeling" The illustrious grammarian posted to someone a week ago in the R.I.P. Gene Reynolds story. Doesn't appear said poster is active but still here. I was happy that (MeTV) removed some of the unnecessary and crude comments made in the BW memoriam story, there's no need for it. I'm sure the MeTV staff has better things to do than cleaning up nonsense. ( Sorry I'm done ranting thanks for your 👂👂.
FAREWELL TO WISEGUY.
HAPPY NEW YEAR .
Andybandit 36 months ago
I didn't realize Betty Lynn was even on Matlock. What did she play.
KJExpress Andybandit 36 months ago
According to the article above.....his secretary.
MrsPhilHarris 36 months ago
Four episodes in and she wants more lines. Okay fine. She talks to Andy and he shuts her down over asking for more lines? Really?
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MrsPhilHarris Nala92129 36 months ago
Yes I think everyone loved her. I wonder if she expected the role to be a Della Street-type character. 🤔
EDDIE CANTOR
PEE WEE HERMAN
JOE PENNER
Were also great movie and
TV actors.
"EDDIE CANTOR, PEE WEE HERMAN, JOE PENNER Were also great movie and TV actors."

Hi Bag,
I'm betting no one else but you and me, on this forum, know who Joe Penner was.
I could be wrong.
I think that you are right because I believe that only
20 per cent of the population have even heard of Joe Penner. I read a description. Of Joe Penner
On the Internet that referred to Joe Penner as
The Pee Wee Herman. Of the 1930s .Some of the movies of Joe Penner include Life of the Party
The Boys From Syracuse
The Days The Bookies Wept
And Millionaire Playboy.
I wish that Pee Wee Herman Eddie Cantor and
Joe Penner had been around at the same time and performed in comedy
Movies(Movie Shorts and
Comedy movies.
Eddie Cantor and
Joe Penner and Pee Wee Herman could have called
Themselves The 3/NITWITS.
15inchBlackandWhite 36 months ago
Life Coach Tip: When you're already on the high side of 60 don't waste twenty years feuding with a friend.
Michael 36 months ago
They decided he didn't need a secretary until later seasons when he hired the wrestling fan.
Pacificsun Michael 36 months ago
True.
Here's a trick about any production. If they don't keep it fresh through a little evolution, fans are going to take it for granted. And maybe find something else new and curious. Remember, in the day, these shows were competing directly off of others in that timeslot. They only had one hour every week to make an impression! MASH took it to the extreme. But all these other (lesser?) shows were having to do the same thing.

Let's get off their back for making natural changes along the way. Even I Love Lucy did, in the Fifties/Sixties!!!
bagandwallyfan52 Michael 35 months ago
Perry Mason had a receptionist named GERTIE played by Connie Cezon
But Perry Mason viewers
Hardly ever saw Gertie.
Connie Cezon is the woman who said in the
3/Stooges Short "I knew
That you were coming so I
Baked a cake.
LoveMETV22 36 months ago
I'm sorry but that story left me asking:
Load previous comments
bagandwallyfan52 JHP 35 months ago
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!
Thanks Love Metv22 for the That's All Folks!
How do you and other Metv
Comment Line Persons put
These short videos on the
METV Comment Line?
I hope that someone will put the almost epilogue of
The Happy Days episode
Crusing where Richie Cunningham
Potsie Weber and Ralph Malph find out they have to run through Arnold's Drive In their underwear and shortly thereafter Richie Potsie And Ralph find out that BAG ZOMBROSKI (Neil J Schwartz) also lost the bet so Potsie Richie and
Ralph carry BAG through Arnold's Drive In parking lot in his underwear and
Everyone in the parking lot
Of Arnold's Drive In is laughing at BAG ZOMBROSKI.
On the Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet episode KRIS
And The Queen Ginger(Charlene Salerno)
Dumps a.glass of water on
Wally Plumstead Skip Young and in The Haunted
Halloween episode of Happy Days Richie dumps
A glass of punch on Bag Zombroski Neil J Schwartz.
I liked the Captain Kangaroo Video someone put on the Metv Comment
Line and Harlow put the video clip of MOOSE BARRY GREENBERG dancing with
The cute girl Carey Williams in Arnold's Drive In in the epilogue of Guess Who's coming to Visit.
In the Happy.Days episode
Hello Tough Guy Eugene Belvin Denis Mandel is showing how he knocked out the bully at Vinnie's Restaurant at Arnold's Drive In and EUGENE BELVIN crashed in the kitchen of Arnold's Drive In.
Chuck Cunningham Randolph Roberts had a funny line in the Happy Days episode Richie Moves
Out when Richienas
Continued
Chuck Cunningham Randolph Roberts had a funny line in the episode Richie Moves Out when
Chuck tells Richie that "I
Usually put a sign in the window that says keep away I've got a.girl in here
In the Happy Days episode
Give The Band A Hand
Which is the last appearance of Gavan O Herlihy as Chuck Cunningham Check gets the
Last Laugh when he saysthat Joanie's soup is
Terrific and can Chuck have
Some more of Joanie's soup and Everyone gives Chuck 4 bowls of Joanie's soup . In the Happy Days episode where Melvin Belvin Scott Bernstein
Chases KC Cunningham Crystal Bernard through
The Cunningham's living.
Room to get a kiss from
KC Cunningham and Fonzie
Catches Melvin Belvin.
Another funny episode of Happy Days is when Roger Phillips Ted McGinley kisses
Rocky Barufis wife
In the Bugs Bunny Cartoon
a mmA Heckling Hare there is a Surprise Ending when Bugs Bunny and a dog fall off of s cliff.
U liked the Captain Kangaroo clip about the
Ping Pong bslls that someone put on the
Metv Viewers Comment
Line.
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