Congrats are in order for Jim Nabors. And from the sound of it, they're long overdue.
The actor, known for playing Gomer Pyle in the 1960s on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., has married his male partner of 38 years.
Nabors, 82, tells Hawaii News Now that he tied the knot with Stan Cadwallader, 64, in Seattle on Jan. 15. Gay marriage became legal in Washington state last month and the two traveled from Hawaii for the ceremony that was performed in a hotel room by a judge.
Way back in high school -- this is before "gay" was even part of our vocabulary -- there was a joke going around: If Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors got married, what would they name their baby? Rock Pyle, har, har, har. Granted, that was the lamest humor in the world, but it's amazing that in the days when gay relationships weren't even discussed, the truth of Nabors' and Hudson's esxual orientation could seep into public awareness enough to be part of a joke in the middle of the Bible Belt.