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While Sheriff Andy Taylor played the field a bit throughout the first few seasons, Deputy Barney Fife was known for having the heart of one woman in Mayberry. Thelma Lou, who seemed to adore the bumbling lawman as much as she was frustrated with him, dated Fife for five years on the show, before leaving it entirely in 1966 (per IMDb). Played by Kansas City native Betty Lynn, Thelma Lou was seen in later episodes as a cohort of Andy's girlfriend Helen Crump.
Lynn made a name for herself playing bit parts and supporting roles in film and on TV during the 1950s. After she departed from "The Andy Griffith Show," Lynn went on to be cast in supporting TV roles on "Family Affair," "The Magical World of Disney," and "My Three Sons." Her character of Thelma Lou was reunited with her long-lost sweetheart Barney Fife in the 1986 TV movie "Return to Mayberry," where the two were at last wedded. Before her, last screen credit in a 1990 episode of "Shades of L.A.," Lynn, like so many other alumni from "The Andy Griffith Show," had a recurring role in "Matlock" with Griffith.
Lynn died on October 16, 2021, after a brief illness (via Holy Cross Mortuary). She was laid to rest in Culver City, California, in the Holy Cross Cemetery.
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