When you think of The Andy Griffith Show, your mind probably instantly conjure up images of Andy, Barney Fife and Opie. However, the show’s strength was in its vast group of supporting characters, including Howard McNear‘s Floyd the Barber. McNear’s portrayal of the character helped to bring life to Mayberry, but things weren’t always so easy for him: the actor suffered from a massive stroke during the show’s run that left him paralyzed on his left side, but Griffith fought hard to bring him back after a year of recovery.
So, how did McNear’s career lead him to The Andy Griffith Show in the first place? Turns out that he had been in Hollywood for years before landing in Mayberry. McNear was born in Los Angeles on January 27, 1905, and worked in radio for decades, becoming especially well known for playing “Doc” on the Gunsmoke radio series. He had film roles alongside stars like Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii and Fun in Acapulco, and he turned up on TV comedies from I Love Lucy to The Jack Benny Program. He practiced the jittery mannerisms on Jack Benny that would later become Floyd on The Andy Griffith Show. He was cast in the show in 1961.
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What happened to Howard McNear from The Andy Griffith Show?
Just two years later, McNear suffered a massive stroke that left the entire left side of his body paralyzed. For over a year, Floyd was absent from the show while McNear recovered, and the cast was unsure if he would ever be able to return. According to a book called The Andy Griffith Show by Richard Kelly, Griffith remembered the moment the decision was made to bring him back. He said, “We were working on a script one day, and Aaron [Ruben] said, ‘Boy do I wish we had Howard.’ And one of us said, ‘Why don’t we see if we can get him.’ So right then we called up Howard’s house and we got his wife, Helen.’Oh,’ she said, ‘it would be a godsend.’”
The producers made adjustments to make everything possible, and scenes were written to hide his paralysis. Griffith added in the book, “Well, we wrote him a little scene. He was paralyzed all down his left side and so we couldn’t show him walking. We had him sitting or we built a stand that supported him. He could then stand behind the barber chair and use one hand. Most of the time, however, we had him sitting. His mind was not affected at all. He was with us about two years after that before he died. Finally poor Howard died. I’m sorry because there was never anyone like him. Kind, kind man.”
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Jack Dodson, who played Howard Sprague, remembered how difficult those final months were for McNear. He shared in the same book, “Unfortunately, I didn’t know Howard before his stroke. Even after his stroke he was just a wonderful human being and a splendid actor. Sadly, it was during the playing of a scene with Howard that we realized he couldn’t go on anymore.”
On January 3, 1969, Howard McNear passed away from complications of pneumonia after another stroke. He was just 63, and while he died too young, he left behind some incredible work on TV and radio.
