I love Mayberry! The people here are wonderful! When I'm at the grocery store people come up and hug me. Friends pick me up and take me for rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway and I always love that.

Andy [Griffith] and I spoke on the phone not too long before he died. I told him I loved him and he told me he loved me. He was a wonderful man.

I still stay in touch with Elinor Donahue. I've known Elinor since she was 14-years-old.

I'd been visiting Mount Airy every year for Mayberry Days. Twice when I was doing personal appearances, one in Alabama and once for Mayberry Days, my house in Los Angeles was robbed. I decided I didn't want to live there anymore, so I moved to Mount Airy, and I am so glad I did!

They were all wonderful [on Andy Griffith Show], but I enjoyed Andy and Don and Ron the most. Ron played little Opie so well. He really took acting seriously and worked hard to deliver his lines well. Andy was always fun and liked to tease. Don was nothing like Barney. Don was very quiet, which shows what a good actor he was.

[I and Don Knotts never have a romantic relationship off screen].We were just good friends, and would go out to dinner sometimes when we both lived in Los Angeles. People always asked me if we were involved, but I always said, "No! He's a married man!".

I love to meet people for lunch at my favorite restaurant, the Loaded Goat. It is named after the Andy Griffith Show episode where a goat ate a bunch of dynamite.