Jim Nabors

Few actors epitomized the aw-shucks country boy persona better than Emmy-nominated actor and singer Jim Nabors. He won over television audiences in the early 1960s with a unique dual talent - wide-eyed, rural-based comedy that occasionally gave way to a rich, florid baritone singing voice. Nabors parlayed his skills on countless variety programs before Andy Griffith tapped him to play naïve gas pump jockey Gomer Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show" (CBS, 1960-68). The character proved so popular with viewers that Nabors was granted his own sitcom, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (CBS, 1964-69), which pitted the Mayberry favorite against a hard-nosed drill instructor (Frank Sutton). After "Pyle" was discharged from the airwaves, he remained a popular guest star on variety programs, most notably "The Carol Burnett Show" (CBS, 1967-1978) and occasional features starring his good friend Burt Reynolds. Although Nabors maintained a lucrative career as a nightclub singer and dinner theater performer in his later years, for a generation of television fans he would forever remain that hilariously gullible, well-intentioned yokel with the golden voice. Jim Nabors died in his adopted home of Hawaii on November 30, 2017. He was 87.