Beloved television actor Andy Griffith once taught high school music and drama in North Carolina.

Many people are familiar with the beloved television actor Andy Griffith. He starred as the affable sheriff Andy Taylor on the 1960’s series the Andy Griffith Show. Later, he starred as the curmudgeonly lawyer Ben Matlock on the legal drama show Matlock. But did you know that before his career as an actor, Andy Griffith taught high school music and drama?

Andy was born on June 1, 1926, in Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. He was the only child of Carl and Geneva Griffith. Carl was a furniture carpenter, and Geneva was a homemaker. Even as a child, Andy was aware that he lived on “the wrong side of the tracks.” He was a shy and introverted child, but he soon learned how to make his classmates laugh, and that helped him to gain self-confidence.

As a young man, Andy harbored hopes of becoming an opera singer. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music at the University of North Carolina in 1949. Once he earned his degree, he taught at Goldsboro High School in North Carolina. His career there spanned three years.

Andy, who was so good at so many things, once confessed that he didn’t think he was a very good teacher. “First day, I’d tell the class all I knew, and there was nothing left to say for the rest of the semester,” he once told The New York Times.

To read more about Andy Griffith, consult this obituary published by the New York Times in 2012.