Rockne Tarkington made history on The Andy Griffith Show

On The Andy Griffith Show, there were a couple of Black town residents in the background, on the main street, a few times, but none of them had speaking roles. This changed on March 13, 1967, when Rockne Tarkington appeared as Coach Flip Conroy in the season 7 color episode Opie's Piano Lesson.

In this episode, Opie Taylor (Ron Howard) had a scheduling conflict between his football practice and piano lessons. He was not sure which one to choose when they were scheduled at the same time. After he missed practice, the coach showed up at his front door to find out why.

When the problem was explained, Coach Conroy said that these things could be worked out as he went to the piano and began to play. This let Opie, Aunt Bee (Francis Bavier), and Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) know that Conroy played the piano as well as coached football. This taught Opie that he could do both.

When Griffith was asked about the lack of diversity in the series, he said that he regretted it. He added that a rural town in the 1960s was not going to have a Black doctor or lawyer.

He also pointed out that African American actors were beginning to refuse roles where they were servants, which limited their choices. Tarkington portraying a coach was acceptable. This did not affect the characters he portrayed in other television shows and movies.

Not only did Tarkington make history as the first Black actor with a speaking role on The Andy Griffith Show, he was also the first African American to appear on the hit series whose name was in the credits.

If the actor's face seems familiar, it is because he appeared in many television programs and movies during that era. His roles included playing an army sergeant and a police officer.

He appeared in Mission Impossible, The Redd Foxx Show, Ben Casey, The Man from U.N.C.L,E. Ben Casey, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bewitched, Tarzan, and Daktari, where he was the first Black actor with a recurring television role.

Tarkington also had quite a long list of movie roles in his resume, which includes:

Soldier in the Rain 1963

Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion 1965

Tell Me in the Sunlight 1965

The Dream of Hamish Mose 1969

The Great White Hope 1970

Beware! The Blob 1972

Black Samson 1974

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 1978

National Lampoon's Movie Madness 1982

The Ice Pirates 1984

Death Before Dishonor 1987

Wyatt Earp 1994

The Desperate Trail 1994

Tarkington had many more film and television roles and worked steadily through the decades. He had the title role in the blaxploitation film Black Samson (1974), and co-starred with Richard X. Slattery in The No Mercy Man (1973) and Zebra Force (1976). He also played several characters in The Banana Splits Comedy Hour on NBC.

William Rockne Tarkington was born in Junction City, Kansas, on May 14, 1932, and was 6"5 inches tall. He married actress Joan Blackman in July 1968. They had two children, Ngai Tarkington and Rockne Tarkington Jr, The couple divorced in October 1970. He married Anita Poree in 1982, and they later divorced.

At some point during the 1990s, the actor returned to Kansas when his mother became ill. He later joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after seeing a television commercial. He passed away in Colorado at age 83 on April 5, 2015. He was cremated and his ashes given to his son

Rockne Tarkington will be fondly remembered for his many film and television roles and for breaking the color barrier on The Andy Griffith Show.