andy had several love interests through the show's run, but his first romantic relationship on the series is ellie walker (elinor donahue), a newcomer to town who works in her uncle's drug store. ellie made twelve appearances in the first season and then disappeared without explanation to the viewer. (donahue once stated in an interview that she left because she felt she had no chemistry with series star andy griffith. griffith later admitted that it was his fault because he had a hard time showing affection on screen, and as a result, the relationship did not appear to be real or believable.) source in season two, andy dated a few ladies, including karen moore, a cousin of thelma lou (only in one episode), and county nurse mary simpson (played by two different actresses julie adams and sue ane langdon). in early season three, andy dated peggy mcmillan (joanna moore), another county nurse, who chalked up four appearances on the show. in "class reunion", andy was reunited with an old girlfriend, sharon despain. on a number of occasions, barney meddled into andy's romantic life and tried to arrange dates for him, which invariably turned out to be ill-suited or embarrassing matches. one of those attempted arranged dates was with the odd, socially inept lydia crosswaithe.