TV star Jim Nabors dies aged 87

TV star Jim Nabors passed away on 30 November, the actor was 87 years old.

Nabors first came to prominence on The Andy Griffith Show, a popular TV show in the sixties. Originally he was hired to play bumbling gas station attention Gomer Pyle for just one episode, but the character was so popular he began appearing on the show regularly.

The following year the character was spun-off into his own show Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C which saw Gomer Pyle join the marines. The show was incredibly popular and ran for five years. A family favourite is continues to play on television around the world today, more than fifty years after its debut.

Nabors went on to host a TV variety program, and released many records featuring his deep baritone singing. A regular on the cabaret circuit he entertained audiences for decades.

For almost every year from 1972 to 2014 Nabors appeared at the beginning of the Indianapolis 500 singing Back Home Again in Indiana. In 2014 he announced it would be his last time appearing at the event, because health concerns stopped from from travelling.

In the early 1980’s he had a supporting role in the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring alongside Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

In 2013, not long after same-sex marriage was legalised in Washington state, Nabors married Stan Cadwallader, his partner of 38 years. Nabors passed away at his home in Honolulu.

OIP Staff