Editing Andy Griffith (section)

===From rising comedian to film star===
Griffith's early career was as a [[monologue|monologist]], delivering long stories such as "[[What It Was, Was Football]]", which is told from the point of view of a naïve country preacher trying to figure out what was going on in a [[American football|football]] game.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.carolinafan.com/ar/02/020926_what_it_was.html |title=What It Was, Was Football |publisher=Carolinafan.com |date=September 26, 2002 |access-date=February 11, 2013}}</ref> The monologue was released as a single in 1953 on the [[Colonial Records]] label, and was a hit for Griffith, reaching number nine on the charts in 1954.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dmdb.org/cgi-bin/plinfo_view.pl?SYN053537 |title=details for What It Was, Was Football—Deacon Andy Griffith |publisher=Dmdb.org |access-date=February 11, 2013}}</ref>

Griffith starred in [[Ira Levin]]'s one-hour [[teleplay]], ''[[No Time for Sergeants (United States Steel Hour)|No Time for Sergeants]]'' (March 1955)&nbsp;— a story about a country boy in the [[United States Air Force]]&nbsp;— on ''[[The United States Steel Hour]]'', a television [[anthology series]]. He expanded that role in [[Ira Levin]]'s full-length theatrical version of [[No Time for Sergeants#Broadway play|the same name (October 1955)]] on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in New York City.<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2543 "No Time for Sergeants"]. [[Internet Broadway Database]]. Retrieved January 14, 2010.</ref> The role earned him a [[Tony Awards|Tony Award]] nomination for "[[Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play|Distinguished Supporting or Featured Dramatic Actor]]" nomination at the [[10th Tony Awards|1956 Tony Awards]], losing to [[Ed Begley]]. He did win the 1956 [[Theatre World Award]], however, a prize given for debut roles on Broadway. "Mr. Griffith does not have to condescend to Will Stockdale" (his role in the play), wrote [[Brooks Atkinson]] in ''[[The New York Times]]''. "All he has to do is walk on the stage and look the audience straight in the face. If the armed forces cannot cope with Will Stockdale, neither can the audience resist Andy Griffith."<ref>{{cite news|author = Brooks Atkinson|date=October 21, 1955|title=Alvin Premiere for "No Time for Sergeants |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

Griffith later reprised his role for the film version (1958) of ''[[No Time for Sergeants (1958 film)|No Time for Sergeants]]''; the film also featured [[Don Knotts]], as a [[corporal]] in charge of [[fine motor skill|manual-dexterity]] tests, marking the beginning of a lifelong association between Griffith and Knotts. ''No Time for Sergeants'' is considered the direct inspiration for the later television situation comedy ''[[Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.]]''<ref>{{cite book | last1=Debolt | first1=A. | last2=Baugess | first2=J.S. | title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture &#91;2 volumes&#93;: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4408-0102-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4WFjKG6vmUC&pg=PA256 | access-date=September 29, 2021 | page=256}}</ref> – a spin-off of ''The Andy Griffith Show''.

His only other New York stage appearance was the [[Title character|title role]] in the 1959 musical ''[[Destry Rides Again (musical)|Destry Rides Again]]'', co-starring [[Dolores Gray]]. The show, with a score by [[Harold Rome]], ran for 472 performances and more than a year. Griffith was nominated for "[[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical|Distinguished Musical Actor]]" at the [[14th Tony Awards|1960 Tony Awards]], losing to [[Jackie Gleason]]. He also portrayed a [[United States Coast Guard|US Coast Guard]] sailor in the feature film ''[[Onionhead]]'' (1958). It was neither a critical nor a commercial success.