Cindi Knight Brought Andy Griffith More Joy than Anyone He'd Ever Known

Cindi Knight gave up her acting aspirations to take care of her husband, Andy Griffith. The couple was still in their honeymoon period when the actor was diagnosed with a life-changing medical condition.

Cindi Knight was with Andy Griffith for longer than his first two marriages. Her husband preferred spending time on his estate in the South to mingling with what he termed the "Hollywood colony."

Besides making headlines for planning to tear down the home her husband had bought with his first decent paycheck, the former actress and teacher has kept a low profile and has not returned to acting in film or television.

Cindi Knight Worked a Regular Job before Meeting Her Future Husband

Educators Muriel and Bobby Knight raised their daughter Cindi in Arlington, Jacksonville, where she attended Terry Parker High School. After graduating from Jacksonville University, she followed her parents' path to become an English teacher at Wolfson High School.

With her background in dance, she successfully auditioned for a role in an outdoor drama production, "The Lost Colony," in Manteo, North Carolina, in the late '70s. The teacher headed to Los Angeles in 1980 to pursue her acting career in earnest.

She played a secretary on the first season of "Matt Houston" and a TV movie, "Murder in Coweta County," starring Johnny Cash and Griffith. Knight fell back on the educational system as a substitute teacher to support herself between booking roles.

Cindi Knight Mended the Actor's Broken Heart after His Failed Marriages

The young actress met Griffith in 1978 at a volleyball game with the "The Lost Colony" cast in North Carolina. The Hollywood actor, who had been in the show in his youth, had a holiday home in the area.

Despite their considerable age difference, Cindi and the star became friends. The older man advised the Jacksonville native on her career. Around five years into their acquaintance, she married the "Matlock" star at his Manteo compound in 1983.

Griffith was married twice before, to Barbara Griffith between 1949 and 1972, and six years to Solica Casuto; both unions ended in divorce. The wounds from his latest split from Casuto in 1981 were still fresh when he entered his third marriage two years later.

For the happy couple, their age difference of nearly three decades was inconsequential. A wire service quoted the "For Lovers Only" star as saying:

"This woman has brought me more joy than I've ever known."

Around their fifteen wedding anniversary, the actor expressed in a television interview that marrying Knight was the best decision he had ever made: "She's the love of my life, and I depend on her greatly."

Cindi Knight Nursed Andy Griffith Amid Health Issues

Though it did not matter to them, the newlyweds' 29-year age gap became prevalent when the twenty-something bride needed to help nurse her 57-year-old husband only a month after the wedding. The star was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The up-and-coming starlet quit acting to care for her husband's health and assist him in his career. She told a newspaper that she lived a normal life, describing her husband as a combination of his two biggest characters; Sheriff Andy Taylor and Ben Matlock.

Though the pain and paralysis receded, the disorder plagued the TV star for the rest of his life, particularly affecting his feet. He remained a working actor for most of his life.

Griffith suffered a heart attack in 2000, undergoing a quadruple bypass surgery on May 9. His rep said that the doctors anticipated a full recovery.

William Ivey Long took great offense when Knight obtained a permit to slope the original building.

Knight reportedly told a friend that her husband was still weak and recovering at their home in North Carolina a month later. The star recovered to film Billy Bob Thornton's "Daddy and Them" opposite Laura Dern.

Cindi Knight Was Widowed in 2012 & Couldn't Imagine Life without Her Husband

Andy Griffith passed away from an illness in the early hours of June 3, 2012, with Knight by his side. The widow said that her husband of 29 years, a man of God, had prepared for the day he would be called to heaven. She continued:

"He is the love of my life, my constant companion, my partner, and my best friend. I cannot imagine life without Andy, but I take comfort and strength in God's Grace and in the knowledge that Andy is at peace and with God.”

The legendary star's last resting grounds is on his "beloved" estate on the Roanoke Sound, North Carolina. He is survived by Knight and his two children from his first marriage, Andy Griffith Jr. and Dixie Griffith.

William Ivey Long took great offense when Knight obtained a permit to slope the original building on the estate her husband purchased in the '50s. The couple built a larger home on the property in which they lived.

Longa, a Griffith family friend, claimed that the "A Face in the Crowd" actor had spoken to him in 2007 about turning the old house into a museum containing memorabilia from his TV shows and music career. The will that was updated two months before the actor's passing did not mention preserving the house.

It should be noted that there already is an Andy Griffith Museum with memorabilia around 300 miles away in Mount Airy, the actor's hometown. Another family friend, Della Basnight, though disappointed respected Knight's right to do as she pleased.

Ira David Wood III, who has a long history with "The Lost Colony" and spent time at Griffith's home, said he had expected the site to get a similar treatment as Elvis Presley's Graceland and be opened to the public.