"Howard Morris was born on September 4, 1919, in New York City, and he went on to become one of the most unforgettable comic actors of his generation. Many fans remember him as the wild and hilarious Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show during the early 1960s, but his career stretched far beyond Mayberry. Before his television fame, he served in World War II in the United States Army’s Special Services, where he first discovered his gift for entertaining audiences under difficult conditions.

24K views · 173 reactions | As America's fortunes rose in the 1920s,...