On Oct. 3, 1960, The Andy Griffith Show aired its very first episode. The series followed Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor, Don Knotts as his sleepy deputy Barney Fife and Ron Howard as Andy’s son Opie. The series, which also included Frances Bavier as Aunt Bee and Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, ran for eight seasons, ending in 1968 and spawning multiple spin-offs. During its run, it was a Top 10 hit every season, and the show has had a second life in syndication, as old fans revisit Mayberry and new ones fall in love with the wholesome town.
In 1986, the surviving cast from the show reunited for a TV film, Return to Mayberry. In it, Andy — who married Aneta Corsaut’s Helen Crump in the series finale — returns to Mayberry to run for sheriff against Barney. Opie, meanwhile, is married and the editor of the local paper. The only major players who didn’t return were Howard McNear, who played Floyd the barber, who died in 1967, and Bavier, who was too ill to leave her retirement home (she died in 1989 at 89 years old).
“I didn’t think the experience would live up to my expectations,” a then-32-year-old Howard told PEOPLE at the time about the reunion. “But the feelings are still there.” By then, the Happy Days alum had already found early success as a director, with movies like Splash, Cocoon and Gung Ho.
The original series was filmed on a Hollywood backlot that stood in for the fictional town of Mayberry, N.C., but for the reunion, Los Olivos, Calif., was transformed to look like the town. “It feels like old home week,” Nabors told PEOPLE about getting the gang back together.
George Lindsey, who played Goober Pyle, said, “This was a family that we all grew up with. They’re going to have to bury me in my Goober hat.” Still, he joked, “I couldn’t remember how to do Goober at first.”
The cast, PEOPLE reported, was quick to tease Howard on set. “I thought you had to be 50 to get your name on a director’s chair,” Griffith joked at one point.
The star explained that the idea for the reunion formed when he, Knotts and Howard presented an Emmy together in 1983. “I was surprised at the amount of audience laughter,” Griffith said. “We went out to dinner and talked about doing the reunion.”
Everyone agreed to come back. “I think everybody would have been disappointed not to be asked,” Howard said.
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The cast of ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’ From left: Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors
Griffith, who was 59 at the time, told PEOPLE that when the original show ended, he thought he was well-placed for a movie career. “I thought I was going to be hot stuff,” he said. “Instead, I sat around the house for several years.” He starred in the short-lived series 1970’s The Headmaster and 1979’s Salvage and appeared in made-for-TV films. He would ultimately find success again on Matlock, which premiered with a TV movie just a month before Return to Mayberry aired. “I’m working harder than ever,” he said.
But of his namesake show, he said, “Those were the best years of my life.”
As for his TV son, Griffith said of Howard, “Ron was a wonderful child, and I like to think I had some influence on him.”
Howard explained, “Andy was like a wonderful uncle to me. He created an atmosphere of hard work and fun that I try to bring to my movies.”
“Even though I was a kid, I was treated with respect,” Howard noted.
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The cast in ‘Return to Mayberry.’ From left: Don Knotts, Jim Nabors, Andy Griffith, George Lindsey and Ron Howard
Still, even then, he didn’t want his children (Bryce was 5 years old, Paige and Jocelyn were 1 and Reed would come a year later), to follow in his steps as a child actor. “I’m very happy about the way I grew up, but I want my kids to know there are people who do things besides make movies and TV shows,” he said. Howard’s dad Rance, also an actor, appeared in the reunion film as a minister, a role he was frequently typecast in.
Knotts, meanwhile, had found success in both movie comedies and on Three’s Company. “Andy and I just clicked,” Knotts, who won five Emmys for the show, said of working with Griffith.
“I’ve missed the place,” he said of the reunion. “This was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
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The cast of ‘The Andy’ Griffith Show’
Nabors, meanwhile, had starred for five years in the spin-off Gomer Pyle – USMC, which ran from 1964 to 1969. He also worked successfully as a nightclub singer. “I felt my career had peaked after Gomer,” he said of his decision to semi-retire. “I didn’t want to stick around for lesser work.” He ultimately did act again, including in the 1982 movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Still, “Everywhere I go, people call out, ‘Hey, Gome,’ ” he said.
Knotts died in 2006 at the age of 81, and Griffith died in 2012 at 86. Nabors died in 2017 at 87.
“Andy was a great guy. . . . I miss him to this day,” Howard told PEOPLE this September about his bond with Griffith, who became friends with his father Rance, who was almost always on set.
Howard, who was 6 when the series began, said he didn’t think he “really grasped exactly” what he was doing on set. “I knew it was a show. I knew there were cameras. And I kind of knew it was television, because I watched television,” he said. Even though he had appeared on TV before, “I don’t think I had ever seen myself on TV, because usually my bedtime was before the shows went on.” He was allowed to stay up to watch The Andy Griffith Show, though.
“It wasn’t until much later that I began to understand the impact the show was having,” the Eden director said. “I learned cursive writing in order to do autographs when I was six years old.”
