The Country Boy

**The Country Boy** is the tenth episode of the second season of *Matlock*, and the thirty-third episode overall.

## Plot

Jimmy le Grand is Matlock's favorite country singer of all time. When he's accused of a hit-and-run, Matlock leaps at the chance to defend him and to house the country legend in his own home, and soon realizes Jimmy has turned into an alcoholic and a generally unenjoyable person.

## Cast

### Main

* Andy Griffith as Ben Matlock
* Nancy Stafford as Michelle Thomas
* Kari Lizer as Cassie Phillips
* and Kene Holliday as Tyler Hudson

### Special Guest Stars

* David Carradine as Jimmy le Grand
* Candy Clark as Kitty Carroll

### Guest Starring

(in alphabetical order)

* Diana Bellamy as Mollie Parnell
* Eric Menyuk as Manager
* Chris Mulkey as Bones Jennings
* Michael Rider as Groupie

### Co-Starring

* Randy Polk as Bartender
* David Ralphe as Lt. Peters
* Beverly Leech as Luann
* Richard Newton as Judge Cooksey

### Featuring

* James Clark as Onlooker
* Jerome Guardino as Bald Man
* Susan Schroeder as Girl
* Tom La Grua as Stage Manager
* Kelly McMahon as Reporter A
* Marshall Martin as Reporter C
* Eli Rich as Reporter B

## Quotes

**Jimmy Le Grand:** Kitty? Kitty! Listen to me, please. Just what are you doing?

**Kitty Carroll:** I’m not talking to you.

**Jimmy:** Yes, you are. I’m not taking any more notes from you. I want to know what’s wrong and I want to know right **now**.

**Kitty:** You’re **drunk**. That’s what's wrong.

**Jimmy:** Aw.

**Kitty:** I told you, Jim. I said if you didn’t stop drinking or raising hell, then I was going to walk out on you for good, and that’s exactly what’s going on right now.

**Jimmy:** Look, you can’t do this. This tour is not over. We got five more bookings.

**Kitty:** *(crying)* Luann, she didn’t have an enemy in the world, but she was driving my car and it was... We always dressed alike. It was 3 in the morning and the parking lot wasn’t very well lit.

**Ben Matlock:** The police think whoever was driving that car was trying to kill you.

**Kitty:** Yeah. Yeah, that’s one of the reasons they arrested Jimmy.

**Ben:** Why would your husband want to kill you?

**Kitty:** Well, I made him very angry last night. I-I-I walked off the stage in the middle of the show and I told him that it was finished between us.

**Ben:** What brought that about?

**Kitty:** Jimmy’s always been kind of wild, see, and, uh, when we... When we got married about three years ago, h-he promised me that he would change, and... And he did for a while. He... He stopped drinking and, uh, he stopped going to dives. Then about, uh, five months ago, when we started this tour, he kinda started going downhill. He was drinking and picking fights with everybody and... smashing up cars. He's been in jail twice.

**Ben:** I read about that. I was hoping it was just something some press agent had made up to hike the ticket sales.

**Kitty:** You sound like a fan.

**Ben:** Well, you could say.

**Michelle:** He has all your husband’s records.

**Ben:** Go ahead.

**Kitty:** Things just went from bad to worse and nothing I said... I-It j-just didn’t seem to make any difference. And then when we came into town last night, Luann and I went to this other motel instead of staying at the Emerald where everybody else was. Then I sent Jimmy a message and I told him that if he didn’t shape up once and for all, then I was going to file for divorce and I meant it.

**Ben:** What’d he do?

**Kitty:** He showed up drunk, so I walked off the stage and out of his life.

**Ben:** You think your husband was trying to kill you?

**Kitty:** I don’t know.

## Trivia

* Kari Lizer does not appear in this episode.