“Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show.” By Daniel de Vise. Simon & Schuster. 320 pages. $26

Well, I’ll be. They really did love each other. Andy Samuel Griffith and Jesse Donald Knotts will always be Andy Taylor and Barney Fife in a near-perfect chapter of the American myth. But to each other, they were Ange and Jess, and as Daniel de Vise tells it, their personal bond was accidental, complicated, wildly creative and enduring. De Vise, Knotts’ brother-in-law, has written a rewarding dual biography that is the definitive story of their friendship – made manifest, and later immortal, on “The Andy Griffith Show.”

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