Leon never said a word on 'THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW'

The peanut butter kid

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and for the above image it is true. Every fan of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW should recall little Leon who never said a word but made a big impact. Leon was a cute kid in a cowboy and scarf who would freely offer his peanut butter sandwich to Andy or Barney. Leon was able to roam freely and safely through Mayberry without any problems. He was only in a few episodes but fans were fond of the tike. Many small towns back in the day had a Leon or two. This would be the child, man, or woman whom everyone knew and welcomed.

Real-life Leon's

In my neck of the woods, we had two such Leon's who were adults whose nicknames were Sambo and Bootsie. Sam was an older white male in his 60s who would often be at the home of various neigbors. Sometimes he would be on the corner between 2 roads sitting on his haunches. He would look as if he were seated on a stool but nothing would be underneath him. On other occasions, we would see him walking to and from the store.

Bootsie was an African American female in her mid 5os whose real name was Claudine and she also would be walking a lot. For about a year she would come to my home and wait on my grandma to walk to church with her, on Sunday mornings. Both Sambo and Bootsie had childlike qualities and they were to my neighborhood what Leon was to Mayberry. They came with the territory and everyone looked out for them just as those on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW looked out for Leon.

Leon in action

On THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, Leon was portrayed by Clint Howard who was the real life younger brother of Ron Howard who played Opie Taylor. As Leon, Clint made 5 appearances on the popular series. Two of the most memorable were with deputy Barney Fife, (Don Knotts). In "The Shoplifter" Deputy Fife was in disguise as a mannequin and trying to catch whoever had been robbing Ben Weaver's department store. Leon showed up offering him his peanut butter sandwich while Barney tried to keep the child from blowing his cover.

In "No BP & J for Barney" the little boy enters the Mayberry jail just as Opie and a group of other boys are heading out to go fishing, They leave the door open and Barney who is inside of one of the jail cells asks Leon to shut the door. The little boy walks over shuts the jail cell locking Barney inside then offers the deputy his peanut butter sandwich. You can see this by clicking on the following link.

Clint Howard

Clinton Engle Howard was born April 20, 1959 to Rance and Jean Howard, and has over 200 acting credits. Clint has appeared in feature films that include APOLLO 13. and THE WATER BOY. He was Mark Wedloe on the television series GENTLE BEN, (197-1969), and Stanley on THE BAILEY'S OF BALBOA 1964-1965). Howard portrayed Steve on THE COWBOYS,(1974) and Rodney on MY NAME IS EARL (2006–2008).

Although Clint Howard did not ever speak when he portrayed Leon he did talk during a television commercial. In the following link, you will see sheriff Andy Taylor seated at a table in his home when Leon comes through the door wearing his signature hat and scarf. He offers Andy his trademark peanut butter sandwich and the sheriff gives the child some Jello. When asked what he thinks, Leon responds "Good".

Clint has appeared in 17 films that were directed by his brother, Ron. These include COCOON, GRAND THEFT AUTO, and HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. He also had a minor role in the DISNEY movie THE JUNGLE BOOK. Clint also was the lead singer and frontman for his band, The KEMPSTERS, and recently began making custom snowglobes. For Fans of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, he will always be fondly remembered as Leon.