HUMAN NATURE

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(Little known facts about 1960's-1970's TV characters)

*Both Grandpa & Grandma Walton were gay in real life

*Andy Griffith & his TV girlfriend were involved in an affair during the production of the show

*Aneta Corsaut (Helen Crump) Andy's TV girlfriend of "The Andy Griffith Show" never married or had children

*The actress who portrayed Carolyn Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie" once asked Michael Landon for a raise. She didn't get it

*Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister

*Mr. Rogers was not, contrary to one popular myth, a Navy Seal

*Barney Fife (Don Knotts) often went into his bedroom, locked the door, and practiced his comedic faces in the mirror

The outside street set of The Andy Griffith Show was used in a Star Trek segment

*Ralph Waite (John Walton) was an ordained Presbyterian minister prior to his acting career

*Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) of "Little House on the Prairie" was actually a Hindu, and made a pilgrimage to India about 1980

*Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) and yours truly enjoyed a pen pal relationship about 2009-2010

*Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) and Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) of "Little House on the Prairie" were close personal friends

*Michael Landon and Victor French both died in their 50's within two years of one another; having just completed the "Highway to Heaven" TV series

*The characters who portrayed Laura Ingalls and Willie Oleson on "Little House on the Prairie" are actually brother and sister

*Floyd the Barber on the "Andy Griffith Show" sustained a stroke during filming, and from that point forward appeared sitting in his barber's chair

*Contrary to the persona of her TV character, the woman who portrayed Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show" was often contentious and difficult to get along with

*Barney Fife's TV girlfriend, Betty Lynn, moved to Mt. Airy, NC decades after filming and lived there 'til her death. She was once mugged while living there, but it didn't diminish her love for her chosen hometown

*Betty Lynn never married, nor had children

(Compiled by Bill McDonald, PhD)