MOUNT AIRY, North Carolina – Betty Lynn, the television and film actress best known for her role as Barney Fife’s girlfriend Thelma Lou on “The Andy Griffith Show,” has died. She was 95 years old.
Lynn died peacefully Saturday after a brief illness, the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina , announced in a statement .
Lynn appeared as Thelma Lou on the show from 1961 to 1966. She reprized her role in the television movie “Return to Mayberry,” in which Thelma Lou and Barney were married.
Born Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn on August 29, 1926, in Kansas City, Missouri, Lynn began studying dance and acting at a young age. In 1944, he began performing as part of the USO field shows.
Lynn took her talents abroad, performing in the USO for service members during World War II. She was thought to be “the only American woman to have traveled the dangerous Burma Road during the war,” according to the museum statement.
He moved to New York in the late 1940s and began acting in film and later on television. Her career spanned decades, but fans got to know her best for her role on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
In her later years, Lynn participated in reunions with other cast members and at various Mayberry-themed festivals.
Director and actor Ron Howard, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor’s son Opie, paid tribute to Lynn in a tweet Sunday saying that she “lit up every scene she was in and every shooting day she was on set.”
Lynn moved from Hollywood to Mount Airy in 2007 after a series of burglaries at her home. He expressed his love for the city to The Associated Press in 2015.
“I believe that God has blessed me, ” Lynn said at the time. “He took me to a sweet city, wonderful people, and he just said, ‘That’s for you Betty.’
Lynn had been working on an autobiography before her death, which is now expected to be published posthumously, the museum said.
Lynn is survived by several cousins. A memorial service will be held in Culver City, California. Details will be posted at a later date.