Monday, March 6, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.
The population of Mayberry, N.C., continues to shrink.
With the Feb. 24 passing of actor Don Knotts, the fictional town that was the idyllic home of "The Andy Griffith Show" lost another of its stellar residents.
The show debuted in 1960 and remained at or near the top of its ratings until the show's star, Andy Griffith (as Sheriff Andy Taylor), left in 1968.
Others who have died since the series left the air are:
Sheldon Leonard, the show's creator and producer, died Jan. 10, 1997.
One of the most endearing characters in a cast full of endearing characters on "The Andy Griffith Show" was Charlene Darling.
Almost 40 years after the series went off the air, fans still recognize the bright-eyed blonde of the folk-singing Darling clan.
Played by Maggie Peterson, a longtime Las Vegan married to local jazz musician Gus Mancuso, Charlene Darling was a recurring character featured in six episodes of the show that ran from 1960 until 1968, when star Andy Griffith walked away while it was still No. 1 in the ratings.
"The whole troupe was filled with great actors," said the 65-year-old native of Greeley, Colo. "They took what they did seriously."
One of the best, Peterson said, was her friend Don Knotts, who died of lung cancer on Feb. 24.
Knotts played Barney Fife, the bumbling, single-bullet deputy with the high-pitched, piercing voice and nervous persona.
But he wasn't really Barney.
"Not at all," Peterson said. "Don wasn't anything like Barney. He was a very quiet man, and polite. He was the type of person who encouraged everyone - he was just a darling man."
Peterson made her debut on the series in 1963 in an episode entitled "Mountain Wedding."
The plot had Charlene Darling Wash divorcing her husband so she could marry Sheriff Andy Taylor.
The story ends up with mountain man Ernest T. Bass (played by the late Howard Morris in a recurring role) running off with the prospective bride, who was wearing a full-length wedding gown and veil.
The person under the veil was Barney Fife instead of Charlene Darling.
"The funny thing was that the dress didn't require any alterations," Peterson said. "Don and I both wore a size 6."
She and Knotts made a film together in 1969, "The Love God?" about the editor of a bird watcher magazine that is taken over by a publisher who turns it into a girlie magazine.
Peterson played Knotts' girlfriend.
"Don was a comic actor," Peterson said. "He wasn't a wisecracking, loud sort of person always telling jokes - nor is Andy."
She described the humor between Griffith and Knotts as "very subtle, droll, less obvious. Just like the show.
"They had a rapport that brought out the humor - each thought the other was absolutely hilarious. They constantly broke each other up."
She said Griffith and Knotts sometimes would harmonize hymns on the set.
"Don was a pretty good singer - he came from West Virginia where they sang a lot of country folk music," Peterson said.
Peterson was a singer before she was an actress. At age 12 she joined a quartet that traveled the country.
Eventually she was discovered by Dick Linke, who became her manager. Linke also managed Griffith, Jim Nabors and Jerry Van Dyke.
"He had a nice little stable," Peterson said.
After "The Andy Griffith Show" took off, Linke got her an audition and she landed the role of Charlene Darling.
"It was a wonderful opportunity," she said.
For one thing, she gained some lifelong friends.
"Andy said there was a lot of love on that set," Peterson said. "It sounds corny, but it was true.
"TV is so out there today," she said. "There is no subtlety. Those shows were so well written."
Today, Peterson is mostly retired, although is helping her husband get his own studio up and running so he can produce his own music and she attends several autograph signing events each year.
"I don't do a lot, but they are wonderful experiences," she said. "The people that like that show are pretty down-to-earth and have pretty good values. They are more like your own relatives, and so passionate about the show."
Each year there is a Mayberry Reunion somewhere in the country, usually in the South, that features cast members of the series. Peterson often attends the events.
"The last time I saw Don was last June at a Mayberry Reunion in Nashville," Peterson said.
Peterson said she was surprised by the passing of Knotts, even though he was always frail.
"He always had little things wrong," she said. "He was sort of a hypochondriac.
"But he was working all the time. When he died he was scheduled to do a lot of things."
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