"Goober" Was No Dummy! - Video

George Lindsey (Goober) wasn't the dummy he portrayed on "The Andy Griffith Show". He had a Bachelor of Bioscience Degree. Surprised?

He is gone today, at the age of 83.

George Lindsey was born in Fairfield in Jefferson County, Alabama, and reared in the small town of Jasper, Alabama.

Lindsey graduated from Walker High School in 1946 and then attended Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, and Florence State College in Florence (now the University of North Alabama), from which he received a Bachelor of Bioscience in 1952.

Before moving to Los Angeles, he was a public high school teacher at Hazel Green High School in Hazel Green, Alabama. After serving in the United States Air Force, he tried to break into show business in New York City.

Lindsey raised over $1,000,000 (USD) for Alabama Special Olympics through 17 years of the George Lindsey Celebrity Weekend and Golf Tournament in Montgomery, Alabama and another $50,000 for the Alabama Association of Retarded Citizens. and participated as Head Coach-Winter Games in Minneapolis, MN Special Olympics National Competition.

He established and perpetuated the George Lindsey Academic Scholarships at University of North Alabama.

Lindsey was the 1995 recipient of the Governor's Achievement Award - Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

The State of Alabama named the "George Lindsey Highway" in Birmingham after the actor.

In 1998, he established the George Lindsey/UNA Film Festival that takes place at the University of North Alabama annually in the spring.

He was the 1997 recipient of the Minnie Pearl Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2007 recipient of the first ICON Award presented by the Nashville Associations of Talent Directors.

His last guest appearance was on Larry the Cable Guy's Hula Palooza Christmas Luau in 2009.

Here is one of my favorite episodes where 'Goober' is highlighted. Goober grows a beard!

Thank you for years of laughter, George.

April Lorier Perspective