For lots of us, that sweet, soothing, softly whistled ear-worm of a subject matter track will at all times be the very first thing that springs to thoughts once we bring to mind Andy Griffith.

And then the evocative imagery: A father and his son, fishing poles in hand, casually walking towards a lake, approximately to include a carefree day filled with promise.

Ah, if handiest shall we get away to that fishing hollow in a bucolic slice of heaven known as Mayberry (regardless of that the scene was in fact filmed in Southern California). Heck, if most effective stouthearted Sheriff Andy may well be our Pa ...

Griffith, who died at 86 on Tuesday in Roanoke Island, N.C., personified "convenience TELEVISION" ahead of the time period turned into widespread. First as an aw-shucks lawman at the" Andy

Griffith Show," then so much later as a cagey safety legal professional on "Matlock," the actor persistently exuded a robust experience of justice and decency.

Indeed, he was the type of faithful man you desired to have to your corner.

Born an most effective kid in Mount Airy, N.C. -- the style for Mayberry -- Griffith started his profession as a comic book monologuist in golf equipment and on records, honing diversifications of the great ol' usa boy personality. It paid off on Broadway, the place he earned Tony nominations taking part in a Southern bumpkin within the Army-based comedy "No Time for Sergeants," and a sheriff within the musical "Destry Rides Again."

After taking a activate the massive reveal with Elia Kazan's "A Face within the Crowd" and a movie model of "Sergeants," Griffith attempted

his hand at television, following the trail of Tennessee Ernie Ford, any other warmhearted united states of america boy who made it big.

"The Andy Griffith Display" debuted in 1960 and have become an wireless luck. Not like anything on television, it was a kinder, gentler sitcom, person who chronicled the small-town lives of sheriff and widower Andy Taylor, his precocious little son Opie (Ron Howard), matronly Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) and jittery Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts).

It should have, at times, appeared like a thankless position to Griffith, who didn't win an Emmy nomination for the display that bore his identify. He not just needed to play the immediately guy to the scene-stealing Knotts (who gained 5 Emmys), however to an array of oddball characters together with Floyd the Barber (Howard McNear), goofy gasoline attendant Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) and city inebriated Otis Campbell (Hal Smith).

Still, Griffith stood tall -- actually and figuratively -- because the judgment of right and wrong of his legendary little berg. Stoic, but additionally tolerant, affectionate and reassuring, he looked as if it would constitute all that was proper with the world, as corny as that will sound. He conveyed to audience that probably the most vital roles is to function an exceptional function type on your child.

"The spine of our display was love," Griffith as soon as stated. "THERE IS SOMETHING approximately Mayberry and Mayberry people that by no means leaves you."

"The Andy Griffith Display" was a rankings powerhouse for eight seasons -- and one of the vital few sitcoms to name it quits even as nonetheless using atop the Nielsens. However it is tricky to assume it even current on this generation of edgy, in-your-face tv. Sheriff Taylor spewing flatulence jokes? Never.

Fortunately, the display lives on in reruns, serving as a reminder of a extra mild and blameless time. Thus, it is comforting to grasp that Andy Griffith will all the time be round to offer us with common sense existence classes as that chipper little subject matter track keeps to run via our heads.

Read Chuck Barney's TELEVISION weblog at http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/category/tv and observe him at http://twitter.com/chuckbarney.