Who says you can’t go home again? You couldn’t prove it to actress Betty Lynn. After playing Barney Fife’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou, on The Andy Griffith Show years ago, Lynn decided that she wanted to move to Mayberry for real.
Though it may be hard to believe, Lynn played Thelma Lou on the Griffith Show for just 26 episodes, from 1961 to 1966. She was the steady girlfriend of Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) and, despite some relationship ups and downs, they were meant for one another.
Thelma Lou and Barney parted ways when he left Mayberry to join the Raleigh police force and Knotts left the series after five years. Barney returned in a season six episode to attend his high school reunion and was excited to reunite with his former girlfriend. Unfortunately, she had married another man. Thankfully, still-single Barney and now-widowed Thelma Lou were reunited and married in 1986’s Return to Mayberry movie.
More about:
Mayberry R.F.D.,
The Andy Griffith Show
