Earle H. Hagen, the man heard whistling at the beginning of The Andy Griffith Show, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA on Monday at age 88.
Hagen co-wrote the jazz classic “Harlem Nocturne” and composed themes for television shows “The Andy Griffith Show,” “I Spy,” “The Mod Squad,” and others.
He and Dick Rogers were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie “Let’s Make Love.”
For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for “That Girl,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”
According to his wife Laura, Hagen had been in ill health for several months.