Andy Samuel Griffith was born in 1926 in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Though he would enjoy a remarkable television career in Hollywood, it took him several attempts to find lasting love with Cindi Knight.
After earning a degree in music from the University of North Carolina, Griffith married his first wife, Barbara Bray Edwards, in 1949. Together, they adopted two children, Andy Samuel Griffith Jr. and Dixie Griffith. Their marriage ended in 1972, and a year later, Griffith remarried Greek actress Solica Cassuto. However, this union also ended after eight years.
Griffith found his true soulmate, Cindi Knight, while working on the set of Murder in Coweta County. Although she had a brief acting career, with her final role being a secretary on the TV series Matt Houston, little is known about her early life. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Cindi moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
The couple married in 1983 and remained together until Griffith’s passing in 2012. Remarkably, that same year, Griffith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which left him unable to walk for seven months. Cindi stood by him during this challenging period, as well as through a quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2000 and hip surgery in 2007.
After Griffith’s death, Cindi Knight Griffith shared a heartfelt tribute with WSOC-TV, expressing her deep love for him:
“Andy was a person of incredibly strong Christian faith and was prepared for the day he would be called Home to his Lord. He is the love of my life, my constant companion, my partner, and my best friend. I cannot imagine life without Andy, but I take comfort and strength in God’s grace and in the knowledge that Andy is at peace and with God.”
