NAMES IN THE NEWS : ‘Matlock’ Hated the Laughter

Andy Griffith credits a grammar school performance and his hatred of being laughed at as the impetus for his acting career.

“I was laughed at all the time” as a child, the 63-year-old actor said in an interview in Parade magazine for next Sunday. He recalled an instance during a third-grade play that made him realize that he could make people laugh with him, instead of at him.

“I discovered that I could control why they laughed by doing something overt to make them laugh,” Griffith said. “I was being laughed at, I hated it, so I made an adjustment to control the situation. All comics learn that.”

The result was a successful career that included eight years as Mayberry’s lovable sheriff on “The Andy Griffith Show,” a host of specials and most recently “Matlock,” a series in which he plays a lawyer who always gets his clients off the hook.