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Jim Nabors, who played Gomer Pyle on ‘Andy Griffith,’ dead at 87

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While best known for his role as Pyle, Nabors also had a successful singing career, briefly hosted a variety show and held several stints on stage in Las Vegas.

Nabors was born in June 1930 in Alabama, and after graduating from the state’s university, he moved to New York and briefly worked as a typist.

A bad case of asthma forced him to pack up and move to the West Coast, where he worked as a film cutter for NBC and performed at nightclubs like the Horn in Santa Monica.

It was there in 1962 that Andy Griffith, then the star of his own self-titled show on CBS, spotted Nabors and gave him his big break.