Andy Samuel Griffith Jr
Sam Griffith was the first child adopted by the actor and his first wife Barbara Bray Edwards. He worked as a real-estate developer, opting not to follow in the footsteps of his mom (also an actor) and father Andy. But after his parents divorced as a teenager, Sam’s personal life suffered and a rift formed between him and his father as he began to suffer from alcoholism.
Tragically, Sam passed away at the age of 38 from liver failure after years of alcohol abuse. His sister Dixie said that her father was just too heartbroken from the loss to actually attend her brother’s funeral.
“It affected my dad on a very, very deep level,” said Dixie during an interview with Fox News. “I went to my brother’s funeral service, but my dad wasn’t able to go. There would be too many magazines and cameras, and it just wasn’t a good place for him to be.”