On Friday, comedian Don Knotts, best known as the nerdy and clumsy Deputy Barney Fife of
The Andy Griffith Show, died of respiratory and pulmonary problems at the age of 81. He passed away at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills.
“Don was a small man … but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions. Don was special. There's nobody like him. I loved him very much. We had a long and wonderful life together,” said Andy Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor in
The Andy Griffith Show.
Condoling Knotts' death, his manager Sherwin Bash said, “Don was an actor who played comedy as opposed to a comedian who does stand-up. He was one of a kind.”
Born as Jesse Donald Knotts on July 24, 1924, in Morgantown, West Virginia, to William Jesse Knotts and Elsie L Moore, Knotts experienced an unhappy childhood. He later received his graduate degree in theater from West Virginia University in 1948 and was also the recipient of the World War II Victory Medal for serving as an entertainer during the war.
Before embarking on his entertainment career in the 1950s, Knotts worked in radio. However, a break on
The Steve Allen Show, which saw him slipping into the role of a clueless weatherman, shot him into the limelight. Later, between 1953 and 1955, Knotts performed on
Search for Tomorrow.
In the 1960s, Knotts bagged a role in
The Andy Griffith Show, beginning an innings with the role that would stick with him for life. Besides widespread popularity, the show also won the actor five Emmys.
In 1965, Knotts parted ways with the show, going on to the big screen. In almost all his films, he played clumsy and nerdy roles. Some of his notable greats include
The Incredible Mr Limpet,
The Ghost and Mr Chicken,
The Reluctant Astronaut,
The Shakiest Gun in the West and
The Love God?.
Later in the 1970s, Knotts teamed up with Tim Conway to appear in some slapstick comedies, including
The Apple Dumpling Gang and its sequel. “It's because of Don that I'm in this business. When I used to watch the old
Steve Allen Show with Don Knotts and Louie Nye and Tom Poston…I just thought Don was the funniest guy I'd ever seen. And I used to wait for that show at night,” Conway had earlier said in an interview.
The lure of the big screen, however, failed to keep Knotts away from television and he made his comeback to the small screen towards the end of the 1970s, with
Three's Company. He played the role of the homophobic landlord Ralph Furley, costarring with John Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt. In 1986, Knotts and Griffith came together again for a TV flick
Return to Mayberry, where Knotts played Barney Fife again. He also starred in
Matlock between 1989 and 1992, played the annoying neighbor Les Calhoun.
Among his later life works are a cameo role in the film
Pleasantville in 1998 and a voice-over for the character of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in
Chicken Little in 2005. Even though Knotts ended up being typecast for his portrayal of the bumbling Fife, he treasured that role as his career's best.
The actor was married three times. The first was to Kay Metz, who he married in 1948 and divorced in 1969. His second marriage, which also ended in divorce, was to Loralee Szuchna. “To me, he was a genius, a kind gentle soul. He made a real contribution to the laughter in this world. I'm really saddened by his loss. You wouldn't find a kinder, more gentle soul. He was a comical genius,” Loralee said. He is survived by his third wife Francie and two children, Thomas and Karen from his first marriage.
