George Lindsey, the actor who lovingly portrayed bumbling gas station attendent Goober Pyle on the classic American sitcom “The Andy Griffith Show”, has passed away at the age of 83. The talented actor died early Sunday morning in Nashville, Tennessee, a city he moved to after leaving Hollywood in the early 90’s.

In addition to spending quite a few years on “The Andy Griffin Show” playing Gomer Pyle’s cousin Goober, the former college quarterback also enjoyed a lengthy run on the country-fried variety show “Hee Haw”. However, despite spending so much time on the small screen, Lindsey also managed to appear in such motion pictures as “Cannonball Run II”, “Take This Job and Shove It”, and Disney’s “The Artistocats”, the latter for which he leant his remarkable voice talent.

Andy Griffith, Lindsey’s long-time friend and co-star, released a prepared statement through the Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home. “George Lindsey was my friend. I had great respect for his talent and his human spirit. In recent years, we spoke often by telephone. Our last conversation was a few days ago,” Griffith said. “I am happy to say that as we found ourselves in our eighties, we were not afraid to say, ‘I love you.’ That was the last thing George and I had to say to each other. I love you.”

Lindsey seemed to relish the impact he left on those who loved “The Andy Griffith Show”. As a kid, I remember watching the show with my mom on several occasions when I was a kid. The show helped poster my love for Jim Nabors and Don Knotts, as well as my fondness for old black-and-white sitcoms. And while I can’t say that I’ve seen too many of the shows Lindsey did before or after his turn as Goober, I’ll always remember him as the lovable gas station attendent who lived in the township I often dreamed of visiting one day.

“There’s no place in the United States I can go that they don’t know me. They may not know me, but they know the character,” Lindsey once said in an interview.

Twitter reactions to the actor’s passing have been heartwarming. You can find some of those posts nestled below. For more information regarding Lindsey’s passing, swing by this location.