<P> As a child, he made numerous appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, between 1962 and 1966, as Opie's friend "Johnny Paul Jason". He also accepted small roles on other popular television shows . </P> <P> In 1969, Thibodeaux joined the rock group David and the Giants who were based in Laurel, Mississippi . The group recorded in its early years with Capitol Records, Fame Records, and Crazy Horse Records, primarily touring throughout the South, and enjoyed a few regional hits which were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and were well known in the Northern Soul music scene in England . After turning 21 in 1971, Thibodeaux received a final payment of $8000.00 from a trust fund set up during his days on I Love Lucy . He spent half of that payment on a sports car and the rest on sound equipment for the band and clothes, drugs, and whatever he wanted . He went through the whole $8000 in about two weeks, according to his autobiography Life After Lucy . </P> <P> Thibodeaux had developed a drug problem and eventually left the band, which broke up . His difficulties led to his becoming a born - again Christian in 1974 . He witnessed to the leader of the band David Huff and the other members, who later converted . The group got back together . The band released nearly ten albums in the 1980s and 1990s for CBS Priority Records (Epic Records), The Benson Company, ABC Word Records (Myrrh) label, and the band's own label Giant Records . David and the Giants released a live CD in 2014 titled Still Rockin . In 2017 the band was honored along with other notable Mississippi musicians such as Steve Forbert, Tammy Wynette, George Soule, and Elvis Presley, by receiving "The Jimmie" Mississippi Dreamers (Jimmie Rodgers Award) for their musical contributions as Mississippi artists at a special concert at Peavey Electronics Corporate headquarters in Meridian, MS, along with Hartley Peavey . </P> <P> A live concert David and the Giants CD / DVD The Best Is Yet To Come was recorded in St. Louis, Mo. in August 2017 celebrating 40 years of David and the Giants music . </P>

Who played lucy's son on i love lucy