Jack Nicholson Played Two Different Characters on ‘The Andy Griffith Show’
Before Easy Rider, before Five Easy Pieces and before One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, three-time Academy Award winner The Andy Griffith Show. Shazam!
The guy who put an axe through a door and announced “Here’s Johnny” in The Shining was the same guy who appeared in Season Eight’s “Opie Finds a Baby” episode. The episode’s title says it all — Opie and his pal Arnold stumble across a baby and try to find the tyke some new parents.
But no need to find new guardians because the abusive old ones show up to claim the kid! Nicholson stars as Mr. Garland (no first name), the man who its to his wife that he blew his top, but that was no reason to abandon their baby on the steps of the Mayberry sheriff’s office. At least he wastes no time asg blame when they confront Andy Taylor: “My wife’s made a terrible mistake!”
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The funniest part of the episode might be Sheriff Taylor warning Nicholson and his wife, Mrs. Garland (no last name), that the next time they abandon their baby, he’ll have to report it to the welfare department.
Nicholson played more to type when he showed up just a season later in “Aunt Bee, the Juror.” Negligent father Mr. Garland has gone back to Mount Pilot, replaced by Nicholson as Marvin Jenkins, a man accused of stealing a television set.
But Nicholson, as Marvin, has a reasonable explanation. The TV was his all along, and he was simply bringing it to the appliance store for a repair. When he found that the front door was locked, Marvin did what any other innocent man would do — look for another way in. A back door was open, and Marvin let himself in. When no one was there, he left with his TV, and a erby called out the alleged theft. Realizing he looked suspicious, Marvin took off running to seal the deal.
Despite no evidence of his innocence, Aunt Bee hangs the jury by casting the only “not guilty” vote. Andy, with some unlikely sleuthing work, determines that another guy robbed the appliance store, and Nicholson’s Marvin was free to go.
Free to take a hatchet to the Overlook Hotel, that is.
