Hal Smith as Otis the Drunk on The Andy Griffith Show was, without question, one of the many beloved characters that populated the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry. They and the town created a connection with viewers during the show’s original 1960 to 1968 run and have continued to do so all these years later.
At the center of it all is Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith), his deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), Andy’s son Opie (Ron Howard) and Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). And then there were people like Floyd “The Barber” Lawson (Howard McNear), mechanics Gomer and Goober Pyle (respectively Jim Nabors and George Lindsey) and, of course, Otis Campbell, more affectionately known by his nick-name.
The man who brought Otis to life was born Harold John Smith on August 24, 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan. Taking a quick look at his background, following high school he worked as a DJ and voice talent at a Utica, New York radio station and enlisted in the Air Force in 1943, where he served in the entertainment division, planning, directing and sometimes starring in shows to entertain the troops.
1. Hal Smith: lovable kook?
When The Andy Griffith Show was being developed, producer Sheldon Leonard was determined to find “lovable-kook” characters to surround leading man Andy Griffith in Mayberry, according to Daniel de Vise, author of Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show.
“In each case, the actor was told it might be a one-off part, maybe lasting for only one or two episodes,” he says. “But when the chemistry worked, as it did with Barney Fife and Otis and Floyd the Barber, Sheldon or producer Aaron Ruben would sweep in and tell the actor that the part might just work out.”
2. A Background for Otis
In 1964, the Tampa Bay Times offered up a profile of Hal Smith, in which they provided a bit of history for the Otis character based on the actor’s point of view: “Otis is a picked-on kind of a guy who is not understood by his wife, hence he hits the bottle. The Mrs. doesn’t allow Otis around the house when he’s sozzled, so the jail became his second home.”
3. Hal Smith felt Otis was a dignified drunk
“It’s the best kind of drunk a man can be. It pays well and you never get a hangover. I do a show on the average of once every three weeks and I think that’s good. The town drunk could get obnoxious.”
4. In one case, Hal Smith was apparently a negative influence
Allan Newsome is the host of the Mayberry podcast Two Chairs, No Waiting, and he did an episode that was focused on Hal Smith. The first thing he points out is that the actor was not a drinker beyond, perhaps, in a social situation.
“I wanted to mention that,” he explains, “because one of the stories I’m fixing to tell you about is actually related to that. There was a great book published called More Than Otis, No Bull!, A Salute to Hollywood Actor Hal J. Smith. It’s written by John Mashad III. It’s got some nice articles in here and I wanted to read just a little bit out of one of them. It’s called ‘The Price of Fame,’ where he had talked to Hal Smith and got this information.”
“Becoming a success in Hollywood can be a blessing or a curse to personalities portraying characters,” he reads from the book. “After Hal appeared in The Andy Griffith Show as lovable Otis Campbell, he discovered a world of typecasting and was sometimes irritated by people criticizing his character. ‘I was in a hardware store one time and my son Terry was there with me,’ he said. ‘There was a guy looking through some nuts and bolts and stuff and he looked up at me and said, ‘Oh, you’re the guy from The Andy Griffith Show. I hate you.’
“Hal said to him, ‘Wait a minute, what do you mean?’ He explained to Hal that his brother became an alcoholic after seeing Otis drunk on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. ‘You caused my brother to drink. He saw you drinking and he wanted to do it, because of you.’”
Smith, he says, defended himself, emphasizing that Otis had never been filmed drinking out of a bottle of any sort. In fact, the only time the audience ever saw him drink anything was when they gave him something to sober him up.
“Throughout the run of The Andy Griffith Show, Smith was plagued with restaurant bartenders and fans offering him free alcoholic drinks, and he always turned them down,” Newsome continues reading. “‘Strangers came up to me and asked me if I was sober. Others were surprised to see me walking the street,’ said Hal in a 1991 interview. ‘They sometimes thought I was a real drunk. I don’t recall the last time I had a drink.’”
5. Otis the Drunk had a negative impact on Hal Smith’s son
Newsome explains, “The character also affected the life of his only son, Terry. They used to call him ‘Little Otis’ at Brentwood Academy. ‘He never really liked that. When I took him to school, the other kids gave me funny looks.
