Ronda Jeter portrayed several characters on 'The Andy Griffith Show'

MeTV has a page with a list of 10 of the children who had roles on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. Missing, however, is an actress who had several important roles during the course of the series. Her name is Ronda Jeter and she was Opie's girlfriend. You can read about the other children by clicking on the following link.

Jeter's first appearance was in season 3 on an episode titled Andy Discovers America which aired on March 4, 1963. The young actress portrayed Karen Burgess a student in Opie's class. Due to a misunderstanding from Andy, the boys challenged Miss Crump's method of teaching history, but it was later all straightened out. On April 8 of that same year, Jeter returned as Karen in The Rivals. During this episode, Opie was unable to obtain the young girl's interest so Thelma Lou decided to help him and Barney became irate over the matter.

In season 4, the actress returned in A Black Day for Mayberry which aired on November 11, 1963. This is one of the funniest and most popular episodes because of Barney's blunder. A gold truck was coming through Mayberry and it was supposed to remain secret. The truck ended up being a decoy and the real gold went by another route. Jeter was standing in the crowd who were waving signs welcoming the truck to town. Jeter was not named in this episode so the assumption is that she was still portraying Karen.

On April 27, 1964, Ronda Jeter portrayed Ethel in The Rumor. In this episode, Barney sees Andy and Helen in a Jewelry store and runs through the town telling everyone that the couple is engaged. He caught a lot of flack when it turned out he was wrong. On September 21, 1964 (season 5) Jeter was back in Opie Loves Helen as Sharon McCall. Sharon had been ignoring Opie who set his sites on his teacher Miss Crump. Sharon becomes jealous when Opie begins ignoring her but after Andy explained that Helen was his girl Opie and Sharon are later seen walking while holding hands.

On October 12, 1964, Jeter was once again in Miss Crump's classroom as Sharon McCall. in the episode titled The Education of Ernest T. Bass the students were humored by the adult male who wanted to go back to school. he cut up in the class and Miss Crump had to give him a lick on the hand with her ruler. Opie's Job aired during season 6 on September 13, 1965. This was a colorized episode where Opie and another boy were competing for the job of delivering groceries. This time around Jeter portrayed Sharon Porter.

Ronda Jeter's last credited role on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW was on February 14, 1966. In Look Paw, I'm Dancing she appeared as Sharon Porter. This was the episode where Opie did not know how to dance and Aunt Bea taught him steps that young people were no longer doing. Once Opie got on the dance floor with Sharon he found out he was doing pretty well. The above photo is one of the last taken of Jeter who at this point is probably in her mid-60s.

Ronnie Howard, who portrayed Opie Taylor turned 67 this past March. There is no information regarding Jeter's personal life, if she stayed in contact with her former co-star or whether she had other acting roles. Even so, fans of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW will maintain fond memories of when she portrayed the various little girls during the run of the series.