Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn (August 29, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American actress.

She was best known for her role as Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on The Andy Griffith Show. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including Sitting Pretty (1948), June Bride (1948), the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956).

Early life

Betty Lynn was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother, Elizabeth Ann Lynn, was "an accomplished mezzo-soprano" who taught Betty to sing and enrolled her in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music when she was only five years old.

Lynn had little personal contact with her father, who once reportedly threatened to shoot her mother in the abdomen when she was pregnant. After Lynn's birth, her mother once took shelter in a locked closet with the baby as her husband threatened the two. They divorced when Lynn was 5 years old. Lynn's grandfather, George Andrew Lynn, a railroad engineer, took on the role of father as she grew up.

USO tour

When she was 17, Lynn auditioned to participate in United Service Organizations entertainment. At age 18 she was part of a USO tour in the China Burma India Theater. She realized the gravity of the situation when a Marine gave her a pistol saying, "You might need this."

Her activities on the tour included visiting patients in hospitals and singing requests from a repertoire of 725 songs. She also met recently released prisoners of war from Rangoon, and she was told by a doctor, "Most of them will be out of their minds in six months."

Acting career

Betty Lynn began her acting career in radio as a member of the cast on a daytime drama on a station in Kansas City.

On Broadway, she appeared in Walk with Music (1940), Oklahoma! (1943), and Park Avenue (1946). She was discovered in a Broadway production by Darryl F. Zanuck and signed to 20th Century Fox. A clause in her contract allowed the studio to drop her at six-month intervals, leading to recurring concerns for Lynn. She said, "I was a redhead with freckles and didn’t have a bosom. I prayed so hard they’d keep picking me up."

Lynn made her film debut in the 1948 film Sitting Pretty, which won a Photoplay Gold Medal.[7] That same year, she appeared in June Bride with Bette Davis followed by roles in Mother Is a Freshman (1949), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Payment on Demand (1951).

Lynn replaced Patricia Kirkland in the role of Betty Blake in the CBS comedy, The Egg and I (1951-1952), and she played Pearl in the ABC comedy Love That Jill (1958).  During this time she became neighbor to an infant Mark Evanier, who she has said became a close friend.

She was Viola Slaughter in the ABC Western Texas John Slaughter (1958–62).  In the 1953–54 television season, Lynn was cast as June Wallace, the sister-in-law of the Ray Bolger character in the ABC sitcom Where's Raymond?.

After guest-starring on various television series, including Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, The Gale Storm Show, Sugarfoot, and Markham, Lynn won the role of Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. Despite playing the role for five years (1961–66), she appeared in only 26 episodes, and was never signed on to the show (in part because at the time she was cast, she was still under contract for Texas John Slaughter). She recounted, "I didn't want to leave Thelma Lou. I really loved her. I enjoyed her. She was sweet and kind, she was so fun to play, and I loved working with Don Knotts - he was so wonderful." Following the end of The Andy Griffith Show, Lynn continued appearing in various television and film roles.

In 1986, she reprised the role of Thelma Lou in the reunion television movie Return to Mayberry, in which Thelma Lou and Barney Fife are finally married. In 2006, Lynn retired from acting and relocated to Mount Airy, North Carolina, the home town of Andy Griffith and the town on which Mayberry is believed to have been based despite Griffith's claims to the contrary. Lynn herself has commented, "The longer I live here, the more I see things [Griffith] took from his hometown."

Personal life

In 1950 in Los Angeles, Lynn bought a house, where her mother and grandparents moved in and lived with her for years. She thus assumed the off-screen roles of breadwinner and caretaker.

Lynn never married, although she stated she was once engaged. By July 2019, she was residing in Mount Airy and she continued to make monthly personal appearances in town at the Andy Griffith Museum, signing autographs and meeting with her fans.

Death

She died on October 16, 2021, after a brief illness, at the age of 95.  A private burial service is planned in Culver City, California. A memorial service will be announced at a later date.

Honors

In 2007, Lynn was inducted into the Missouri Walk of Fame, located in Marshfield, Missouri.

On August 30, 2016, then-North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory granted and North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest presented Lynn with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor in North Carolina.