Most of us know Andy Griffith from his time spent keeping the peace in Mayberry, or seeking justice in the courtroom on Matlock. But before he was Sheriff Andy Taylor or Ben Matlock, Griffith logged some other roles that were not quite as iconic, but still interesting — including the role of Lonesome Rhodes in his first film, 1957’s A Face in the Crowd, which airs tonight at 8pm on TCM.
Griffith had his first career breakthrough several years prior, in 1953, when he recorded a comic monologue called “What It Was, Was Football,” where he played a wide-eyed country preacher trying to make sense of a football game. The record climbed the charts and suddenly, Griffith was being invited to perform on variety shows, telling his football story or doing a version where he explained Romeo and Juliet in that same rural drawl. Audiences found him charming, and producers took notice.
He landed his first big acting role in the 1955 teleplay No Time for Sergeants, playing a naive but lovable Air Force recruit named Will Stockdale . The TV special was so well received that it transferred to Broadway just a few months later with Griffith in the same role. His costar? Future Mayberry resident Don Knotts. Griffith’s performance earned him a Tony nomination, and theater critics praised his sincerity and stage presence.
He then got his first film role in the dark satire A Face in the Crowd. Griffith played Lonesome Rhodes, a drifter with a big voice and an even bigger ego, who rises to fame as a television personality. Directed by the legendary Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg, the screenwriter behind On the Waterfront, A Face in the Crowd was allegedly inspired by some unflattering comments Will Rogers Jr. made about his father’s folksiness, and uses the premise of a faux-humble everyman to comment on Hollywood’s star-making machinery.
The film wasn’t a massive hit at the time, but over the years it became a critical favorite. Griffith later said he thought the movie found more appreciation in later decades than when it was first released, and spoke fondly of his experience filming it, noting how it helped shape him as an actor.
Griffith went on to star in the 1958 film adaptation of No Time for Sergeants. Around that same time, Griffith appeared in the Broadway musical Destry Rides Again and was nominated for another Tony. But his biggest break came when he appeared in The Danny Thomas Show as a backdoor pilot toThe Andy Griffith Show … and the rest is history.
