{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Husband says Jim Nabors, who starred as Gomer Pyle on TV\u0026#39;s \u0026#39;The Andy Griffith Show,\u0026#39; dies at Hawaii home at age 87' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d69fd8eafeecae205130' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d69fd8eafeecae205130' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nHusband says Jim Nabors, who starred as Gomer Pyle on TV\u0026#39;s \u0026#39;The Andy Griffith Show,\u0026#39; dies at Hawaii home at age 87\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eJIM NABORS, TV'S HOMESPUN GOMER PYLE AND SINGER, DIES AT 87              Jim Nabors, the shy Alabaman whose down-home comedy made him a TV star as Gomer Pyle and whose surprisingly operatic voice kept him a favorite in Las Vegas and...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eJIM NABORS, TV'S HOMESPUN GOMER PYLE AND SINGER, DIES AT 87\u003cbr/\u003e              Jim Nabors, the shy Alabaman whose down-home comedy made him a TV star as Gomer Pyle and whose surprisingly operatic voice kept him a favorite in Las Vegas and other showplaces, died Thursday (30NOV2017). He was 87.\u003cbr/\u003e              Nabors, who underwent a liver transplant in 1994 after contracting hepatitis B, died peacefully at his home in Hawaii after his health had declined for the past year, said his husband, Stan Cadwallader, who was by his side. \u003cbr/\u003e              ``Everybody knows he was a wonderful man. And that's all we can say about him. He's going to be dearly missed,'' Cadwallader said. \u003cbr/\u003e              The couple married in early 2013 in Washington state, where gay marriage had recently been made legal. Nabors' friends had known for years that he was gay, but he had never said anything to the media.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``It's pretty obvious that we had no rights as a couple, yet when you've been together 38 years, I think something's got to happen there, you've got to solidify something,'' Nabors told Hawaii News Now at the time. ``And at my age, it's probably the best thing to do.''\u003cbr/\u003e              Nabors became an instant success when he joined ``The Andy Griffith Show'' in the early 1960s. The character of Gomer Pyle, the unworldly, lovable gas pumper who would exclaim ``Gollllll-ly!'' proved so popular that in 1964 CBS starred him in ``Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.''\u003cbr/\u003e              In the spinoff, which lasted five seasons, Gomer left his hometown of Mayberry to become a Marine recruit. His innocence confounded his sergeant, the irascible Frank Sutton.\u003cbr/\u003e               Audiences saw another side of Nabors in appearances in TV variety programs _ his booming baritone. The contrast between his homespun humor (''The tornado was so bad a hen laid the same egg twice'') and his full-throated operatic arias was stunning.\u003cbr/\u003e              For two seasons beginning in 1969, CBS presented ``The Jim Nabors Hour,'' on which he joshed with guest stars, did sketches with Sutton and fellow ``Gomer'' veteran Ronnie Schell, and sang country and opera.\u003cbr/\u003e              Offstage, Nabors retained some of the awed innocence of Gomer. At the height of his fame in 1969, he admitted, ``For the first four years of the series, I didn't trust my success. Every weekend and on every vacation, I would take off to play nightclubs and concerts, figuring the whole thing would blow over some day.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``You know somethin'? I still find it difficult to believe this kind of acceptance. I still don't trust it.''\u003cbr/\u003e               After the end of his variety show, Nabors continued earning high salaries in Las Vegas showrooms and in concert theaters across the country. He recorded more than two dozen albums and sang with the Dallas and St. Louis symphony orchestras.\u003cbr/\u003e              During the 1970s he moved to Hawaii, buying a 500-acre macadamia ranch. He still did occasional TV work, and in the late 1970s, he appeared 10 months annually at Hilton hotels in Hawaii. The pace gave him an ulcer.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``I was completely burned out,'' he later recalled. ``I'd had it with the bright lights.''\u003cbr/\u003e              In the early 1980s, his longtime friendship with Burt Reynolds led to roles in ``Stroker Ace,'' ``Cannonball II'' and ``The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.''\u003cbr/\u003e              He returned to concert and nightclub performances in 1985, though at a less intensive pace.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``It was kind of like `The Twilight Zone' for me, all of us standing there in costumes, the girls in spangles, no tops,'' he told The Associated Press during his comeback stint at the Las Vegas Hilton. ``I looked around and told the girls, `I'm used to being on the back of a tractor, then to be dropped into the midst of this! It's kind of weird.'''\u003cbr/\u003e               Among his regular gigs was singing ``Back Home Again in Indiana'' at the Indianapolis 500 each year, which he first did in 1972. The first time, he wrote the lyrics on his hand so he wouldn't forget.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``I've never thought of (the audience reaction) as relating to me,'' Nabors said. ``It's always relating to the song and to the race. It is applauding for the tradition of the race and the excitement.''\u003cbr/\u003e              Illness forced him to cancel his appearance in 2007, the first one he had missed in more than 20 years. He was back performing at Indy in 2008, saying, ``It's always the main part of my year. It just thrills you to your bones.''\u003cbr/\u003e              Nabors was an authentic small-town Southern boy, born James Thurston Nabors in Sylacauga, Alabama, in 1930, son of a police officer. Boyhood attacks of asthma required long periods of rest, during which he learned to entertain his playmates with vocal tricks.\u003cbr/\u003e              After graduating from the University of Alabama, he worked in New York City for a time, and later, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was an assistant film editor and occasional singer at a TV station.\u003cbr/\u003e              Nabors moved on to Hollywood with hopes of using his voice. While cutting film at NBC in the daytime, he sang at night at a Santa Monica club.\u003cbr/\u003e              ``I was up there on the stage the night that Andy Griffith came in,'' Nabors recalled in 1965. ``He said to me afterward, `You know somethin,' boy? You're good. I'm going to bring my manager around to see you.'''\u003cbr/\u003e              In 1991, Nabors got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in ceremonies attended by pals Carol Burnett, Loni Anderson, Phyllis Diller and Florence Henderson. His reaction? ``Gollll-ly!''\u003cbr/\u003e            \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e              1966 File Photo\u003cbr/\u003e              1. Still image - Jim Nabors in character as Gomer Pyle\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Nashville, Tenn. - 7 May 1992\u003cbr/\u003e              2. Still image - Jim Nabors\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Honolulu - 9 August 2001\u003cbr/\u003e              3. Still image - Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones pins the lance corporal insignia on the lapel of Jim Nabors during a spoof promotion ceremony at Camp Smith promoting Nabors' fictional television sitcom character Gomer Pyle\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              New York - 2 November 2003\u003cbr/\u003e              4. Still image - Jim Nabors, left, and Andy Griffith arrive to CBS's 75th anniversary celebration\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Austin, Texas - 11 July 1982\u003cbr/\u003e              5. Still image - (L-R) Jim Nabors, Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, during the gala premier of the movie \"The Best Little Whore House in Texas\" starring Parton and Reynolds\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Los Angeles - 31 January 1991\u003cbr/\u003e              6. Still image - Jim Nabors receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nabors is surrounded by his friends (left to right) Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Florence Henderson, Ruth Buzzi and Loni Anderson\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Indianapolis - 24 May 2009\u003cbr/\u003e              7. Still image - Jim Nabors sings \"Back Home Again in Indiana\" before the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 auto race the the Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Indianapolis - 24 May 2014\u003cbr/\u003e              8. Still image - Jim Nabors is introduced during the drivers meeting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for his final performance of \"Back Home Again in Indiana\" at the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar auto race. Nabors performed the song for 37 years during pre-race festivities.\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCurator Rating\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"star-rating\" aria-label=\"3.5 out of 5 stars\" role=\"img\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa-solid fa-star text-action\" 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