“Gomer Pyle” and music fans are mourning Jim Nabors, remembered best as the TV friend of Mayberry Sheriff Andy and then as a Southern-fried Marine on his own show.

He died Thursday at his Hawaii home at 87.

Nabors gained fame on the 1960s Andy Griffith Show as an aw-shucks southerner in the small town of Mayberry. A spinoff starring the same folksy character was titled “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” and ran from1964 to 1969.

His professional singing voice was startling for many viewers when he first added a song or two to his small-town TV southern persona.

“Because of his asthma, Nabors moved to Los Angeles and worked as a film cutter for NBC,” notes Wikipedia. “He also worked at a Santa Monica tavern, The Horn, singing and acting in cabaret theater.”

He sang in a baritone and sometimes spoke and sang in his higher-pitched comedic voice, said the site.

“At the club, comedian Bill Dana saw Nabors’ act and invited him to appear on ‘The Steve Allen Show.’ Nabors signed on to the show, but it was soon canceled.”

Rolling Stone added that Nabors lived in Hawaii for several years, where he had a macadamia nut farm.

“It was Indiana native Florence Henderson (of ‘Brady Bunch’ fame) who first got him one of his steadiest gigs, singing ‘Back Home Again in Indiana’ at the annual Indianapolis 500 race, which he did from 1972 until 2014, missing just one year, 2012, due to heart surgery.

Nabors was known for his catchphrases “Goll-eee,” “Shazam” and “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

Nabors’ longtime partner, Stan Cadwallader, whom he married in 2013, confirmed the news to Indianapolis TV station WTHR earlier Thursday, Rolling Stone said.

Some tributes:

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