Little Ronny Howard went on to star in the high profile show ‘Happy Days’ Howard continued making films during this time, appearing in the western film The Shootist (1976), and the comedy film Grand Theft Auto (1977), which he also directed.
In 1980, Howard left Happy Days to focus solely on directing. His films include the science-fiction/fantasy film Cocoon (1985), the historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995) (earning him the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures), the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind (2001) (earning him the Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Picture ), the thriller The Da Vinci Code (2006), the historical drama Frost/Nixon (2008) (nominated for Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Howard has received many awards and honors. He even had an asteroid named after him, Asteroid 12561 Howard !
Andy and Don Were Bros for Life
Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were actually lifelong best friends. Their friendship was the most important thing to the both of them. Their long-standing friendship started in New York City when the two acted together in a Broadway play called “No Time for Sergeant” in 1955.
Five years later, the duo was reunited in The Andy Griffith Show , and from then on they were inseparable. Andy was there when Knotts passed away in 2006 at the age of 81 from lung cancer. Sadly, Griffith himself passed away six years later at the age of 86.
Caught in the Act
Remember the fact that the cast and crew of The Andy Griffith Show loved pranking each other? Well, one of the crew members decided to pull a big prank on Andy Griffith at his hotel. The crew member dressed as a waiter in order to get into Andy’s hotel room to surprise him.
The crew member switched Andy’s dinner with a prop from the show, and thought that the actor wouldn’t even see a difference in the food and try to eat the prop. Shockingly, when the crew member walked into the room, he caught Griffith and Aneta in a compromising situation. Talk about backfire!
Mending Rifts
In 1998, Andy Griffith said that Frances had called him shortly before her death and apologized for “being ‘difficult’ during the series’ run".
Sadly, she died at age 86, just 8 days before her 87th birthday.
Later Years
Aneta Corsaut had a continuing role as policeman Bumper Morgan's pawn-shop-owner friend on the series The Blue Knight and as Irma Howell in the short-lived series Mrs. G. Goes to College . In the TV series Adam-12 , Corsaut portrayed Officer Pete Malloy's girlfriend, Judy. She had a supporting role as Head Nurse Bradley in the 1980s sitcom House Calls , and also appeared in several episodes of Matlock with star Andy Griffith . In addition, Corsaut played the role of nurse Jesse Brewer in 1977 on the long-running ABC soap opera General Hospital when long-time portrayer Emily McLaughlin was too ill to work.
Aneta returned for two reunion shows, 1986’s Return to Mayberry and 1993’s The Andy Griffith Show Reunion. She also made appearances on many other TV shows. Aneta died in 1995 and is buried in Hollywood.