A sad note, as another part of our childhood passes on.

Betty Lynn – the actress who played Barney Fife’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou on the Andy Griffith show – has passed away. 

Lynn died Saturday at the age of 95 following a brief illness.  She appeared as Thelma Lou on the Andy Griffith Show between 1960 and 1965.  Her long career included many roles over the years in TV, movies, and radio; she also performed for American soldiers in war zones in Southeast Asia during World War II.

(AL.COM/www.al.com)

BIO FROM IMBD

Missouri born-and-bred Betty Ann Lynn was born in Kansas City. Her name is as light, breezy and innocent as the characters she played on film and TV. She is pleasantly remembered for playing TV’s sweet-as-apple-pie “Thelma Lou” who had the tough end of the bargain as the ever-patient girlfriend of Don Knotts‘ neurotic “Barney Fife” character on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). It took a second reunion decades later to finally get those two characters married. While Betty enjoyed other entertainment outlets such as film and the stage, her “Thelma Lou” character that remains indelibly etched in the minds of all her fans.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Perhaps best known for her role as Barney Fife’s girlfriend, “Thelma Lou”, in the TV series The Andy Griffith Show (1960). She dated Barney (played by Don Knotts) throughout his entire 1960-1965 run on the show, and left it as a regular when Knotts left. When he made a return as a guest star, the producers made the controversial decision to reunite Barney and Thelma Lou at a class reunion party, but with Thelma Lou married to another man. It was her only appearance in a color episode of the series, and it was also her final appearance on the series. The Barney/Thelma Lou story does have a happy ending, as she and Knotts reprised their roles in a 1986 TV movie, Return to Mayberry (1986), where Thelma Lou returned as a divorcée and promptly went back to Barney. The two-hour movie ended with Barney marrying Thelma Lou, a sight which pleased most every fan of the original show.

With her girl-next-door charm and beauty, she was a consistent favorite among Mayberry fans everywhere, and she remains popular with The Andy Griffith Show (1960) fans at conventions and various get-togethers to this day.

Was one of three bridesmaids at Ann Blyth‘s marriage to Dr. James McNulty. The other two bridesmaids were Jane Withers and Joan Leslie.

In July 2007 she was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, NC, along with Jacqueline Scott, Lynn Borden, Lana Wood, Joyce Meadows, Brett Halsey, Robert Dix and Rick Lenz.

She was asked to play the mother of Christine Jorgensen in The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970), but turned it down.

She was nicknamed “Boo”, by Bette Davis during the shooting of June Bride (1948) because there was another actress named Betty in the cast, which tended to cause some confusion.

Her home in West Hollywood, CA, where she had lived since 1950, was broken into twice in the same year. She decided to move more than 2,100 miles to Mount Airy, NC–Andy Griffith‘s hometown and one of the inspirations for the fictional town of Mayberry. Not long after her move there she was robbed in the street. The robber was caught shortly afterward by police.

As of February 9, 2018, after the death of Don Knotts on February 24, 2006, George Lindsey (Goober) on May 12, 2012, and then sadly, by the man himself, Andy Griffith, on July 3, 2012 and Jim Nabors (Gomer) November 30, 2017, Betty was one of only three regular or recurring surviving cast members of The Andy Griffith Show (1960), along with Elinor Donahue, Ron Howard (Opie).

As of 2020 she resided in Mount Airy, NC.

Most Fridays she would greet guests, sign autographs and/or take selfies with fans of “The Andy Griffith Show” (1960) at The Andy Griffith museum in Mount Airy, NC. In her 90s, she–weather and health permitting–tries to visit the museum at least once a week so as not to disappoint her fans.

During World War II she toured with the USO as a singer, entertaining troops in China, Burma, India, Africa and other locales.