Why Did Miss Peggy Disappear from ‘The Andy Griffith Show’?
Miss Peggy McMillan, as portrayed by actress Joanna Moore, took a liking to Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) during the first half of Season 3 of The Andy Griffith Show. If you ask me, Andy treated her quite badly during the four episodes she appeared in: he didn’t like that she was rich, he got annoyed when she tried to do nice things for him, and despite all of that, he still got incredibly jealous when an old school friend came into town unannounced to visit.
Andy’s sometimes-frosty treatment of Peggy couldn’t have been because he found the lady lacking — one could argue that she had everything. She was beautiful. She was a nurse. She was rich. Did I mention that she was a nurse? And boy oh boy, was she ever patient with Andy! During those four episodes, Joanna made her mark as a strong female character that could stand her ground — but when the time was right, understood what it meant to give and take in a relationship.
Everett Collection
Have I mentioned how much I loved her voice? That refined Southern accent, which came naturally to Joanna, really set Peg apart from the other gals in Mayberry.
Yet for whatever reason, Peg just disappeared. And the really strange part is that the last time anyone saw her, she was sipping on hot cocoa around a campfire with Andy and Opie, singing songs and having a great time.
Clearly, life in Mayberry isn’t all that it seems. Could there be a sinister dark side to the bucolic town? After all, Peggy wasn’t Andy’s first love interest to vanish completely — during the classic TV show’s first season, Miss Ellie (played by Elinor Donahue) also constantly had to set Andy straight, and then eventually left Mayberry, never to be heard from again.
And much like his relationship with Ellie, once Peggy disappeared, Andy never said a thing about her again. Not once. So much for the beautiful nurse with a benevolent heart.
All kidding aside, we don’t know whether Peggy was dropped from the show due to a concern on the part of Griffith and the producers that the two just didn’t have genuine chemistry, or another factor.
It is also entirely possible that Joanna Moore’s personal life came calling right around the same time as her stint in Mayberry. She was in a relationship with Ryan O’Neal, who had a popular show of his own called Peyton Place; they married in 1963, and their daughter, actress Tatum O’Neal, was born soon after — just a year after Joanna’s run as Miss Peggy. (Joanna’s relationship with Ryan would be over by 1967; Ryan and Tatum had a tempestuous relationship through the years, but their collaboration on 1973’s Paper Moon did make her the youngest Academy Award-winning actress ever).
Joanna Moore with Ryan O’Neal and their children Tatum and Griffin in 1966. Gene Trindl / TV Guide / Everett Collection
In addition to the responsibilities that came with starting a family, Joanna was really quite in demand, and offers were plentiful for her in the mid to late 1960s — soon after leaving Andy Griffith, she appeared on shows including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Fugitive, and Perry Mason.
Additionally, here’s what Andy Griffith himself said to journalist Jean Rooney in March 10, 1963: “Joanna’s not my regular girl. I can’t have one on the show, not at this point. It’s too hard to find the right scripts.”
Apparently, the “right scripts” eventually made their way to the program, because it would only be a few short months before Opie’s school teacher, Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), would catch the sheriff’s eye for good.
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