Posted on 11/30/2017 11:22:42 AM PST by Eleutheria5
Jim Nabors, who gave popular culture its most enduring image of a wide-eyed, good-natured if none too bright hayseed in a character whose very name – Gomer Pyle – would become synonymous with lovable rube, died Thursday in Hawaii. He was 87.
Nabors’ husband, Stan Cadwallader...
With catchphrases “Shazam!” and “Gollllly!” (the latter drawn out to four or five lilting syllables), Nabors debuted his downhome, gas station attendant character in 1962 on The Andy Griffith Show, where the slow-going, dim-witted Gomer was a constant irritation to Don Knotts’ officious, high-strung Deputy Barney Fife.
The Gomer character, and Nabors’ odd-couple chemistry with Knotts, proved so popular with audiences that he was given his own spin-off series in 1964. Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, co-starring Frank Sutton as his ever-yelling drill sergeant Vince Carter (“I can’t heeearrrr youuu!”) ran until 1969 on CBS. (The Gomer character was replaced on Andy Griffith with cousin Goober Pyle, played by George Lindsey in a Jughead-style cap).
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. was an instant smash when it debuted in September 1964. The series finished No. 3 among all primetime shows that season with a 30.7 rating –- ahead of Andy Griffith – and was No. 2 behind Bonanza for the following 1965-66 season. The series slipped in the ratings after its move from Fridays to Wednesdays for the 1966-67 season, but CBS returned Gomer Pyle to Fridays the following season and it ranked No. 3 and No. 2 in primetime during the next two seasons.
Nabors’ comic persona, with his natural Alabama accent stretched to a near-cartoon drawl, evaporated when switched gears to sing, utilizing a baritone that sounded both formal and trained, a dichotomy used to great effect as far back as the Griffith show.
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(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
He was an honorary Marine, a Corporal, in fact.
I probably heard Jim sing
at the Indy 500 a dozen times
as a participant.
What a time!
Semper Fi, Gomer Pyle.
Rest in peace Jim Nabors, one of the few to ever be named an Honorary Marine. pic.twitter.com/B3m3RYAbPy— U.S. Marines (@USMC) November 30, 2017
Sorry to hear about the passing of Jim Nabors. I probably watched every episode in which the Gomer Pyle character appeared (both in Mayberry and then in the Marine setting). At times the episodes were annoyingly simplistic and formulaic, but usually I found them to be moderately amusing, and parts of them very funny. Nabors played the role well, and created an unforgettable character for the millions of persons who watched the shows.
That excerpt shows his vulnerability, though, and his innocent -- some might call it simple-minded -- niceness. He wants to do what's right and to live up to the expectations of others, but he finds it difficult. On that occasion he succeeds.
From what I’ve heard Jim Nabors too was a nice person. His homosexuality wouldn’t fit well with the traditional values of the shows in which he appears. He actually married his long-time sexual partner. So I think it’s probably worth mentioning here (and, though he wasn’t a political activist, in the summing up of his life he’d probably want something said about it).
I don’t much like the pro-homosexual (anti-traditional-religion) bias of much of our current pop culture, or some of its more aggressive political advocates. From what I’ve seen of the homosexuals I’ve known in my life, though — or, mostly, persons I suspected of being so before homosexuality became accepted (including some of my friends) — they’ve been nicer than average. I understand that some persons reject homosexuality on religious or moral grounds, and I can understand that too.
In any case, Jim Nabors was apparently a nice person, and a talented person, who in his acting represented something good in American culture (something supportive of the values that most of the persons here support). I believe he deserves credit for that, and as a fellow human being I regret his passing.
Oops, sorry, I meant to cite the longer version, not just start at the song that Reed13k cited -- YouTube of whole excerpt. It shows the characteristics I was discussing.
RIP.
Great entertainer.
An Indy race driver . . . wow!!!! Very neat that there are several people of notoriety who post on FR . . . I’m not one of them . . . LOL.
It's still a chayyayv mitah, whether the practitioner is "militant" or not.
Even MASH was set in Korea.
Dittos.
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