Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) serves on a jury where the case involves a man named Marvin Jenkins (Jack Nicholson) who’s been accused of stealing appliances from a department store in Mount Pilot, North Carolina. While the evidence against Mr. Jenkins appears to be overwhelming, Aunt Bee isn’t ready to convict him because he “seems like such a sweet man.” The rest of the jury is getting sick of her so they press her to explain why she doesn’t think he’s guilty. Her answer, “have you noticed his eyes, pure hazel! I just don’t feel like he did it.” The jury decides to take a break for the evening. The next day she brings brownies and wants to continue discussing the case. Needless to say, the remaining jury members aren’t happy as they are ready to be done. They’re quite rude to Aunt Bee and the case finally ends with a hung jury because Aunt Bee refuses to give in to their pressure. Marvin Jenkins, happy to be free, thanks Aunt Bee for believing in him. Meanwhile there’s a guy hanging around the court that seems way too interested in the outcome of the case, especially when Jenkins gets set free. Based on a couple of things he says, Andy (Andy Griffith) figures out that he’s the one who actually stole the items at the store, and it turns out that Aunt Bee was right the whole time. Even better, the episode ends with the judge writing a letter to Aunt Bee requesting her recipe for brownies! 

“Aunt Bee, the Juror” is the second of two episodes where Jack Nicholson appeared on The Andy Griffith Show. He first appeared in season 7, episode 10, “Opie Finds a Baby.” It’s a very short appearance where he shows up at the very end as the father of the found baby. In this episode, Nicholson again has a pretty small role as the man on trial. He answers some questions from the lawyers and Aunt Bee believes him even though no one else does. At the end he happily thanks Aunt Bee for thinking the best of him and not finding him guilty. Most of the episode focuses on Aunt Bee holding out for what she believes in. Based on his short appearance in this episode, it’s hard to believe that Nicholson was on the verge of superstardom. He had already filmed THE SHOOTING (1966), RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1966), and HELL’S ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967), with EASY RIDER (1969) and FIVE EASY PIECES (1970) just a couple of years away. For me, it’s just fun to see an actor of his caliber on one of my favorite shows of all time.

Happy 88th Birthday, Mr. Nicholson. Thanks for a lifetime of wonderful performances!