Andy Griffithʼs Net Worth 2024: Age, Career, Income, and More
The legacy of the late, great American actor and comedian Andy Griffith will live on forever in Hollywood. His charisma, humor, and indisputable brilliance won over viewers of “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock,” two of his most famous television appearances. He was quite successful throughout his career and became very wealthy. We explore Andy Griffith’s net worth and seven intriguing details about his life and work in this article.
Andy Griffithʼs Net Worth
Andy Griffith’s net worth is expected to be $60 million as of the year 2024. A large chunk of his fortune came from his many film and television roles, as well as his music albums and appearances. Griffith was also wealthy because he was an accomplished filmmaker, writer, and producer.
Who Is Andrew Samuel Griffith?
In Mount Airy, North Carolina, Andy Samuel Griffith came into this world on June 1, 1926. Geneva Griffith and Carl Lee Griffith were his parents. Griffith was raised by relatives until his parents were able to purchase a house, during which time Griffith was taken in by further cousins. Griffith often slept in the drawers of dressers because he came from a much poorer household than most of his contemporaries. Griffith came from nothing, but he had a lifelong passion for music that would take him far in his successful careers in film, television, and music.
Griffith joined the school’s theater program while he was a student at Mount Airy High School, where he developed an early passion for acting. Griffith landed a role in Paul Green’s enduringly famous and staged drama “The Lost Colony” (about Roanoke Island) early in his acting career. After appearing in a number of supporting roles, Griffith landed a breakthrough part as Sir Walter Raleigh, the man after whom Raleigh, North Carolina, was named.
During his time as a pre-divinity student at UNC Chapel Hill (1944), Griffith discovered his niche in the community. Griffith participated in both musical theater and drama while at university, where he earned a degree in 1949. Music was his major in college. Following this, Griffith decided to pursue a career in entertainment after three years of teaching high school music.
Career in Film and Television
Ira Levin’s full-length Broadway production of “No Time for Sergeants” built on Griffith’s part from the original one-hour teleplay, which he had appeared in after becoming famous as a recording artist. Griffith was nominated for a Tony Award for “Distinguished Supporting or Featured Dramatic Actor” in 1956 for this role; however, Ed Begley ultimately won the Tony.
The 1958 film adaptation of “No Time for Sergeants” brought back Griffith from her acting days; the picture also starred Don Knotts, marking the beginning of a long-lasting partnership between the two actors.
After his performance in the 1957 critically praised “A Face in the Crowd” brought him more renown as an actor, he went on to star in the situation comedy “The Andy Griffith Show” as Sheriff Andy Taylor, co-starring a youthful Ron Howard. The majority of the 1970s saw Griffith starring in television films, such as “Go Ask Alice,” “The Strangers in 7A,” “Winter Kill,” and, in “Pray for the Wildcats,” his first villain role.
Even though “The Andy Griffith Show” was still quite successful in 1968, Griffith famously left the show. Andy Griffith Enterprises, Griffith’s own production firm, would launch in 1972 during this time. Shows like “Headmaster,” “The New Andy Griffith Show,” and “The Yeagers” were among Griffith’s early alternative TV offerings, but they were all critically and commercially unsuccessful.
Griffith then went on to star in feature-length comedies with A-listers such Jeff Bridges in “Hearts of the West” and “Western comedy spoof Rustlers’ Rhapsody” with Tom Berenger.
Griffith triumphantly returned to television in “Matlock” as Ben Matlock, the titular character, after suffering a sudden illness that temporarily paralyzed his legs. From 1986 until 1995, Matlock was a hit on both ABC and NBC. Griffith portrayed an Atlanta, Georgia, country lawyer in Matlock, whose Southern accent and spotless record helped propel him to stardom. The first season of Matlock, which aired on Tuesday nights, was a ratings smash. In 1987, Griffith was honored with a People’s Choice Award for his outstanding performance and lasting impact on Matlock.
Private Life
On August 22, 1949, Andy Griffith tied the knot with Barbara Bray Edwards. Andy Samuel Griffith Jr. and Dixie Nann Griffith were the names of the children they adopted. Their divorce would take place in 1972. From 1973 until 1981, Griffith was married to Greek actress Solica Cassuto, who was his second wife. It was on the set of “Murder in Coweta County” that Griffith and Cindi Knight first crossed paths, and the two eventually tied the knot on April 12, 1983…
Griffith suffered a heart attack and died on July 3, 2012. He was in his 86th year. Manteo on Roanoke Island, North Carolina would be Griffith’s final resting place. On Roanoke Island, at the family cemetery, Griffith was laid to rest.