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Becoming Thelma Lou - My Journey to Hollywood, Mayberry, and Beyond
Long before becoming beloved by generations of Mayberry fans for her portrayal of Thelma Lou, the ever-patient sweetheart of Barney Fife, Kansas City native Betty Lynn lived a life filled with interesting adventures and fascinating people.
In her own words, augmented by 140 rare photos, Betty shares the sometimes bittersweet, often surprising, and always inspiring story of her remarkable life. From her wartime service in India and Burma to sharing the spotlight with entertainment royalty from New York to Hollywood, Betty always remained grounded in her Midwestern values and strong faith.
Yes, Betty Lynn will forever be Thelma Lou to millions of us, but, as you will discover in these pages, there is also much more to learn and love about this truly extraordinary woman. Enjoy her incredible journey!
In her own words, augmented by 140 rare photos, Betty shares the sometimes bittersweet, often surprising, and always inspiring story of her remarkable life. From her wartime service in India and Burma to sharing the spotlight with entertainment royalty from New York to Hollywood, Betty always remained grounded in her Midwestern values and strong faith.
Yes, Betty Lynn will forever be Thelma Lou to millions of us, but, as you will discover in these pages, there is also much more to learn and love about this truly extraordinary woman. Enjoy her incredible journey!
324 pages, Paperback
Published August 30, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 17, 2024
Betty Lynn was in an interesting position. She was basically a B-list actress who landed a recurring, supporting role on a sitcom that had led to a certain immortality. For those of us who grew up only knowing her as Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show, the rest of her life and career come as a bit of a surprise.
Unlike some other Hollywood memoirs, Lynn's manages to be interesting, giving the reader anecdotes about Hollywood royalty without it coming across as name-dropping (cough - Barbara Eden - cough). Her stories seem to be honest, but neither salacious nor mean-spirited (cough - Tony Randall - cough). She seems to care as much about her devoted fans as she does her legendary friends. The writing (no doubt with the help of McAbee and Clark) is fairly linear and easy to read, without delving into a mere chronology of credits, or tedious minutiae (cough - Margeret Rutherford - cough). Lynn does seem to like puns and wordplay, and though it's sometimes a bit much, I imagine that's just her personality coming through.
Lynn's experiences in the USO were eye- opening, and reminiscences about her film career have me watching some old movies that even this fan of Hollywood's golden era hadn't seen before.
Of course, most of us are coming for the Mayberry memories. Again, honest but affectionate, and just enough to give us an extra little bit of connection with the fictional town and its denizens, whom we've loved for so long. (Aside: it came as a bit of a surprise to realize that there were some TAGS actors with whom Lynn never interacted, and whom she never met until years after the show's original run. Funny how even though we know intellectually that it's just a TV show, we still kind of imagine the citizens of Mayberry must surely all know one another.)
Lynn outlived many of her colleagues and died before this memoir was published, which makes it rather sad. But she lived a long life, and seemed to be one of those optimists who actively seek the positive in anything they do, which made her story a pleasure to read.
Unlike some other Hollywood memoirs, Lynn's manages to be interesting, giving the reader anecdotes about Hollywood royalty without it coming across as name-dropping (cough - Barbara Eden - cough). Her stories seem to be honest, but neither salacious nor mean-spirited (cough - Tony Randall - cough). She seems to care as much about her devoted fans as she does her legendary friends. The writing (no doubt with the help of McAbee and Clark) is fairly linear and easy to read, without delving into a mere chronology of credits, or tedious minutiae (cough - Margeret Rutherford - cough). Lynn does seem to like puns and wordplay, and though it's sometimes a bit much, I imagine that's just her personality coming through.
Lynn's experiences in the USO were eye- opening, and reminiscences about her film career have me watching some old movies that even this fan of Hollywood's golden era hadn't seen before.
Of course, most of us are coming for the Mayberry memories. Again, honest but affectionate, and just enough to give us an extra little bit of connection with the fictional town and its denizens, whom we've loved for so long. (Aside: it came as a bit of a surprise to realize that there were some TAGS actors with whom Lynn never interacted, and whom she never met until years after the show's original run. Funny how even though we know intellectually that it's just a TV show, we still kind of imagine the citizens of Mayberry must surely all know one another.)
Lynn outlived many of her colleagues and died before this memoir was published, which makes it rather sad. But she lived a long life, and seemed to be one of those optimists who actively seek the positive in anything they do, which made her story a pleasure to read.
March 6, 2025
Betty Lynn the marvelous actress is essentially Thelma Lou the beloved character on The Andy Griffith Show, and this lovely memoir confirms the fact in my mind. Told gently, even when explaining her father's mental instability, and with a quiet kind of humor, Betty details her service entertaining troops during World War II in Burma to her rise in Hollywood films to finding a place in the fictional town of Mayberry to moving beyond into retirement in Mount Airy, NC (Andy Griffith's real-life hometown and often considered the model for Mayberry). The assistant co-authors write a wonderful epilogue for the book since it was published after Betty's death, and they mention how her voice shines through the text they have edited and smushed together with other stories for coherence. This was worlds better than Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American!
May 14, 2025
Truly enjoyed this book about Betty Lynn’s performance career and her time on the Andy Griffith show❤️ especially the audio book and her closeness with the other cast members
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews