My favorite TV hillbilly would be Ernest T. Bass from The Andy Griffith Show. Ernest T was a kooky, oddball mountain man who lived outside Mayberry.Ernest T. was not a regular character on the show. Infact he was only in a total of 5 episodes during the show's eight seasons. Yet he has been listed as one of the most notable TV characters of all-time.
Ernest T.'s calling card was throwing rocks through windows with notes attached to them. He also liked to speak in rhymes, often yelling lines like "You ain't seen the last of Ernest T. Bass! or "Right or wrong I'm here to fight. Unless you run away with fright. And if you wonder who I be, it's me it's me, it's Ernest T!"
Interestingly enough, it was revealed later he was illiterate, so who wrote all those notes? That is one of TV's great unexplained mysteries.
Despite often being seen as insane or stupid, Ernest T was able to break out of jail or escape capture numerous times in his life. Every year during the annual Mayberry Days Celebration in Mt. Airy, NC - Ernest T. Bass impersonators line the streets reciting his most famous lines.
Ernest T. was played by Howard Morris, who was one of the show's directors and went on to direct Hogan's Heroes and Bewitched.
On a side note: My Favorite Lawson
That would be another resident of Mayberry - Floyd Lawson, the local baber. Oh sure Matt Lawson is a funny guy, and Jen Lawson is super hot and fun to cyberstalk. But it's Floyd's mysterious persona and dark secrets who has me wanting to know more. Nirvana even have a song about him.
- Jordan
