Andy Samuel Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer.

He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead characters in the 1960s situation comedy, The Andy Griffith Show, and in the 1980s-1990s legal drama, Matlock. Griffith was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush on November 9, 2005.

Griffith was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the only child of Geneva (née Nunn) and Carl Lee Griffith. At a very young age, Griffith had to live with relatives until his parents could afford to get a home of their own. Without a crib or a bed, he slept in drawers for a few months. In 1929, when Griffith was three years old, his father took a job working as a carpenter and was finally able to purchase a home in Mount Airy's "blue-collar" southside.

Like his mother, Griffith grew up listening to music. His father instilled a sense of humor from old family stories. By the time he entered school he was well aware that he was from what many considered the "wrong side of the tracks". He was a shy student, but once he found a way to make his peers laugh, he began to come into his own.

As a student at Mount Airy High School, Griffith cultivated an interest in the arts, and he participated in the school's drama program. A growing love of music, particularly 'swing', would change his life. Griffith looked up to Ed Mickey, a minister at Grace Moravian Church, who led the brass band and taught him to sing and play the trombone. Mickey nurtured Griffith's talent throughout high school until graduation in 1944. Griffith was delighted when he was offered a role in The Lost Colony, a play still performed today in the historic Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina. He performed as a cast member of the play for several years, playing a variety of roles, until he finally landed the role of Sir Walter Raleigh, the namesake of North Carolina's capital.

He began college studying to be a Moravian preacher, but he changed his major to music and became a part of the school's Carolina Play Makers. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated with a bachelor of music degree in 1949. At UNC he was president of the UNC Men's Glee Club and a member of the Alpha Rho Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, America's oldest fraternity for men in music.

After graduation, he taught English for a few years at Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He also began to write.

Griffith's early career was as a monologist, delivering long stories such as What it Was, Was Football, which is told from the point of view of a rural backwoodsman trying to figure out what was going on in a football game. Released as a single in 1953, the monologue was a hit for Griffith, reaching number 9 on the charts in 1954.

Griffith starred in a one-hour teleplay version of No Time for Sergeants (March 1955) — a story about a country boy in the U.S. Air Force — on the The United States Steel Hour, a television anthology series. He expanded that role in a full-length theatrical version of the same name (October 1955) on Broadway in New York City.

Griffith later reprised his role for the film version (1958); the film also featured Don Knotts, as a corporal in charge of manual-dexterity tests, marking the beginning of a life-long association between Griffith and Knotts. No Time for Sergeants is considered the direct inspiration for the later television situation comedy Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1960s).

He also portrayed a U.S. Coast Guard sailor in the feature film Onionhead (1958); it was neither a critical nor a commercial success.

In 1957 Griffith starred in the film A Face in the Crowd. Although he plays a "country boy", this "country boy" is manipulative and power-hungry, a drifter who becomes a television host and uses his show as a gateway to political power. Co-starring Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, Tony Franciosa, and Lee Remick (in her film début), this now-classic film showcases Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor and singer.

The film demonstrated, quite early-on, the power that television can have upon the masses. Directed by Kazan, written by Budd Schulberg, and ostensibly based on the alleged on-stage phoniness of Will Rogers and Arthur Godfrey, the prescient film was seldom run on television until the 1990s.

A 2005 DVD reissue of it included a mini-documentary on the film with comments from Schulberg and surviving cast members Griffith, Franciosa, and Neal. Griffith, revered for his wholesome image for decades, revealed a more-complex side of himself in the mini-documentary recalling Kazan prepping him to shoot his first scene with Remick playing a teenage baton twirler and captivating Griffith's character on a trip to Arkansas. Griffith also commented in the documentary his belief that the film was far more popular and respected in more recent decades than it was when originally released.

Griffith's first appearance on television had been in 1955 in the one-hour teleplay of No Time for Sergeants on The United States Steel Hour. That was the first of two appearances on that series.

Just before The Andy Griffith Show (see below), Griffith appeared as a county sheriff (who was also a Justice of the Peace and the editor of the local newspaper) in a 1960 episode of Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas. This episode, in which Thomas's character is stopped for speeding in a little town, served as a backdoor pilot for Griffith's own show. Both shows were produced by Sheldon Leonard.

Griffith's first appearance on television had been in 1955 in the one-hour teleplay of No Time for Sergeants on The United States Steel Hour. That was the first of two appearances on that series.

Just before The Andy Griffith Show (see below), Griffith appeared as a county sheriff (who was also a Justice of the Peace and the editor of the local newspaper) in a 1960 episode of Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas. This episode, in which Thomas's character is stopped for speeding in a little town, served as a backdoor pilot for Griffith's own show. Both shows were produced by Sheldon Leonard.

For most of the 1970s, Griffith starred or appeared in many television films including The Strangers In 7A (1972), Winter Kill (1974), and Pray for the Wildcats (1974). Griffith received his only Primetime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie for his role in the television film Murder In Texas (1981) and won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the television film Murder in Coweta County (1983), co-starring music legend Johnny Cash as the sheriff. Griffith appeared again as a bad guy in Savages (1974), a television film based on the novel Deathwatch (1972) by Robb White. He also proved to be a good character actor and appeared in several television mini-series, including the television version of From Here to Eternity (1979), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), and the Watergate scandal-inspired Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977).

Two television movies in 1977, The Girl in The Empty Grave and Deadly Game, were attempts for Griffith to launch a new series featuring him as Police Chief Abel Marsh; both were unsuccessful.

During this period, Griffith also appeared in two feature films, both of which flopped at the box office. He co-starred with Jeff Bridges as a 1930s western actor in the comedy Hearts of the West (1975), and he appeared alongside Tom Berenger as a villainous colonel and cattle baron in the western comedy Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985). He also appeared as a comical villain in the feature film Spy Hard (1996) starring Leslie Nielsen.

Griffith stunned many unfamiliar with his A Face in the Crowd work in the television film Crime of Innocence (1985), where he portrayed a callous judge who routinely sentenced juveniles to hard prison time. In the television film A Holiday Romance (1999), Griffith played the role of "Jake Peterson." In the film Daddy and Them (2001), Griffith portrayed a patriarch of a dysfunctional southern family.

In the feature film Waitress (2007), Griffith played a crusty diner owner who takes a shine to Keri Russell's character. His latest appearance is in the romantic comedy feature film Play The Game (2009) as a lonely, widowed grandfather re-entering the dating world after a 60-year hiatus.

Griffith sang as part of some of his acting roles, most notably in A Face In The Crowd and in many episodes of both The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock. In addition to his recordings of comic monologues in the 1950s, he made an album of upbeat country and gospel tunes during the run of The Andy Griffith Show, which included a version of the show's theme sung by Griffith under the title "The Fishin' Hole". In recent years, he has recorded successful albums of classic Christian hymns for Sparrow Records.

Griffith appeared in country singer Brad Paisley's music video "Waitin' on a Woman" (2008).

Griffith's hallmarks are driving two separate Ford automobiles: (a Galaxie on The Andy Griffith Show, and a Crown Victoria on Matlock), his Southern drawl, wearing his gray suit (on Matlock), and playing characters who have a folksy, friendly personality.

William Harold Fenrick of Platteville, Wisconsin, legally changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith and ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Grant County in November 2006. Subsequently, actor Griffith filed a lawsuit against Griffith/Fenrick, asserting that he violated trademark, copyright, and privacy laws by changing his name for the "sole purpose of taking advantage of Griffith's notoriety in an attempt to gain votes". On May 4, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz ruled that Griffith/Fenrick did not violate federal trademark law because he did not use the Griffith name in a commercial transaction but instead strove "to seek elective office, fundamental First Amendment protected speech."

Griffith and Barbara Bray Edwards were married on August 22, 1949, and they adopted a son, Andrew Samuel Griffith Jr. (born in 1957) (known as Sam Griffith), a real-estate developer, and a daughter, Dixie Nan. They were divorced in 1972. Sam died in 1996 after years of alcoholism.

In 1973 Griffith and Solica Cassuto were married; they were divorced in 1981.

He and Cindi Knight were married on April 2, 1983.

In addition to his online video with Howard in 2008, in politics Griffith has favored Democrats and recorded television commercials endorsing North Carolina Governors Mike Easley and Bev Perdue. He spoke at the inauguration ceremonies of both. In 1984, he declined an offer by Democratic party officials to run against Senator Jesse Helms.

Griffith's first serious health problem was in April, 1983, when he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome and couldn't walk for seven months because of paralysis from the knees down.

On May 9, 2000, he underwent quadruple heart-bypass surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

After a fall, Griffith underwent hip surgery on September 5, 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.