Everything about Don Knotts totally explained
Jesse Donald Knotts (
July 21,
1924 –
February 24,
2006) was an
American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of
Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom
The Andy Griffith Show (a role which earned him five
Emmy Awards), and as landlord
Ralph Furley on the television
sitcom Three’s Company in the 1980s. He also starred in over a dozen comedy films. Knotts was also featured in
Air Buddies as the voice of Deputy Sniffer.
Biography
Early life
Knotts was born in the
university town of
Morgantown,
West Virginia, the son of Elsie L. (
née Moore) and William Jesse Knotts. His father’s family had been in the
United States since the 17th century, originally settling in
Queen Anne’s County,
Maryland. His father had been a farmer, but suffered a nervous breakdown and lost his farm. The family (including Don’s two brothers) was supported by Don’s mother, who ran a
boarding house in town. Knotts’ father suffered from
schizophrenia and
alcoholism and died when Don was 13 years old. Some time later, Knotts graduated from
Morgantown High School.
At 19, Knotts joined the
Army and served in
World War II as part of a traveling GI variety show and as a nurse. He didn't serve in the
Marine Corps as a
drill instructor, as has been the subject of a popular
urban legend. After the war, Knotts graduated from
West Virginia University in 1948.
Career
After performing in many venues (including a
ventriloquist act with a dummy named Hooch Matador), Knotts got his first major break on television in the
soap opera Search for Tomorrow where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on
Steve Allen’s variety show, as part of Allen’s repertory company, most notably in Allen’s mock “Man in the Street” interviews, always as a man extremely nervous. The laughs grew when Knotts stated his occupation -- always one that wouldn’t be appropriate for such a shaky person, such as a surgeon or explosives expert.
In 1958, Knotts appeared in the movie
No Time for Sergeants alongside
Andy Griffith. The movie, based on the play and book of the same name, began a professional and personal relationship between Knotts and Griffith that would last for decades.
In 1960, when Griffith was offered the opportunity to headline in his own
sitcom,
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), Knotts took the role of Barney Fife, the deputy -- and originally cousin -- of
Sheriff Andy Taylor (portrayed by Griffith). Knotts’ five seasons portraying the deputy on the popular show would earn him five
Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Comedy.
A summary of the show from the website of the
Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Deputy Barney Fife:
“Self-important, romantic, and nearly always wrong, Barney dreamed of the day he could use the one bullet (which he kept in his shirt pocket) Andy had allowed him to be issued. While Barney was forever frustrated that Mayberry was too small for the delusional ideas he'd of himself, viewers got the sense that he couldn’t have survived anywhere else. Don Knotts played the comic and pathetic sides of the character with equal aplomb and aploom.”
When the show first aired, Andy Griffith was intended to be the comedic lead with Don Knotts as his “foil”, or straight man. But, it was quickly found that the show was funnier the other way around. As Griffith maintained in several interviews, "By the second episode, I knew that Don should be funny, and I should play straight". The years during which the two worked on the show cemented Griffith’s lifelong admiration for Don Knotts and their lifelong friendship.
Believing earlier remarks made by Griffith, that
The Andy Griffith Show would soon be ending after five seasons, Knotts began to look for other work, and signed a five film contract with
Universal Studios. He was caught off guard when Griffith announced he'd be continuing with the show after all, but Knotts’ hands were tied. Knotts left the series in 1965. (Within the series, it was announced that Deputy Fife had finally made the “big time”, and had joined the Raleigh, N.C. police force.)
Knotts went on to star in a series of film comedies which drew on his high-strung persona from the TV series:
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964),
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966),
The Reluctant Astronaut (1967),
The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968),
The Love God? (1969) and
How to Frame a Figg (1971). Knotts would, however, return to the role of Barney Fife several times in the 1960s: he made five more guest appearances on
The Andy Griffith Show (gaining him another two Emmys), and later appeared once more on the
spin-off Mayberry RFD, where he was present as best man for the marriage of Andy Taylor and his longtime love,
Helen Crump.
After making
How to Frame a Figg, Knotts’ 5-film contract with Universal came to an end. He continued to work steadily, though he didn't appear as a regular on any successful television series until his appearance on
Three's Company in 1979. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Knotts served as the spokesman for
Dodge trucks and was featured prominently in a series of print ads and dealer brochures. On television, he went on to host an odd-variety show/sitcom hybrid on
NBC,
The Don Knotts Show, which aired Tuesdays during the fall of 1970, but the series was low-rated and short-lived. He also made frequent guest appearances on other shows such as
The Bill Cosby Show and
Here’s Lucy. In 1970, he'd also make yet another appearance as Barney Fife, in the pilot of
The New Andy Griffith Show. (This was particularly odd, as Andy Griffith didn't play Sheriff Taylor in this series.) In 1972, Knotts would voice an animated version of himself in two memorable episodes of
The New Scooby Doo Movies. He also appeared as Felix Unger in a stage version of
Neil Simon’s
The Odd Couple with
Art Carney as Oscar Madison.
Beginning in 1975, Knotts was teamed with
Tim Conway in a series of slapstick movies aimed at children, including the
Disney film
The Apple Dumpling Gang, and its 1979 sequel,
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. They also did two independent films, a boxing comedy called
The Prize Fighter in 1979, and a comedy/mystery movie in 1981 called
The Private Eyes. Knotts co-starred in several other Disney movies, including 1976's
Gus, 1977's
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and 1978's
Hot Lead and Cold Feet.
In 1979, Knotts returned to series television in his second most identifiable role, landlord
Ralph Furley on
Three’s Company. The series, which was already an established hit, added Knotts to the cast when the original landlords, a married couple played by
Audra Lindley and
Norman Fell, left the show to star in a short-lived spin-off series (
The Ropers). Though the role of the outlandish, overdressed, nerdy-geeky-buffoon landlord was originally intended to be a minor recurring character, Knotts was so funny and lovable as a character who fantasized that he was an incredibly attractive lothario, that the writers greatly expanded his role. On set, Knotts easily ingratiated himself to the already-established cast. Knotts remained on the show until it ended in 1984. The
Three’s Company script supervisor,
Carol Summers, went on to be Knotts’ agent--often accompanying him to personal appearances.
In 1986, Don Knotts reunited with
Andy Griffith in the 1986 made-for-television movie
Return to Mayberry, where he reprised his role as Barney Fife yet again. In 1989, he joined Griffith in another show, playing a recurring role as pesky neighbor Les Calhoun on
Matlock until 1992.
After his run on
Matlock ended in 1992, Knotts’ roles became sporadic including a cameo in the 1996 flop
Big Bully as the principal of the high school. In 1998, Knotts had a small but pivotal role as a mysterious TV repairman in
Pleasantville with
Reese Witherspoon. That year, his home town of
Morgantown,
West Virginia, changed the name of the street formerly known as South University Ave (
US 119,
SR 73) to “Don Knotts Boulevard” on “Don Knotts Day”. Also that day, in a nod to Don’s role as Barney Fife, he was also named an honorary Deputy Sheriff with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department.
Knotts was recognized in 2000 with a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Though he continued to act on stage, much of his film and television work after 2000 was voice only. In 2002, he'd appear again with
Scooby-Doo in the video game
Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights (Knotts also sent up his appearances on that show in various promotions for
Cartoon Network and in a parody on
Robot Chicken, where he was teamed with
Phyllis Diller). In 2003, Knotts teamed up with Tim Conway again to provide voices for the direct-to-video children’s series,
Hermie & Friends which would continue until his death. In 2005, he was the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in
Chicken Little (2005), his first Disney movie since 1979.
On September 12, 2003, Knotts was in Kansas City in a stage version of
On Golden Pond when he received a call from
John Ritter’s family telling him that his former
Three's Company co-star had died of an
aortic dissection that day. Knotts and his co-stars attended the funeral four days later. Knotts had appeared with Ritter one final time in a cameo on
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. It was an episode that paid homage to their earlier TV series. Knotts was the last
Three's Company star to work with Ritter.
During this period of time,
macular degeneration in both eyes caused the otherwise robust Don Knotts to become virtually blind. His live appearances on television were few. In 2005, Knotts parodied his Ralph Furley character while playing a Paul Young variation in a
Desperate Housewives sketch on
The 3rd Annual TV Land Awards. He would parody that part one final time, in his last live-action television appearance, an episode of
That ’70s Show, (“Stone Cold Crazy”). In the show Don played Fez and Jackie’s new landlord. Knotts' last official film project was in
Air Buddies, the 2006 direct-to-video sequel to
Air Bud, voicing the sheriff's deputy dog Sniffer.
Personal life
The actor was married: To college sweetheart Kathryn (Kay) Metz from 1947-64 and to Loralee Czuchna from 1974-83. He had two children from his first marriage, Karen and Thomas. He was married to actress Francey Yarborough at the time of his death.
Death
Don Knotts died on
February 24,
2006, at the
UCLA Medical Center in
Los Angeles, California, at the age of 81 from
pulmonary and
respiratory complications related to
lung cancer. He had been undergoing treatment at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in recent months, but went home after he reportedly had been getting better
(External Link
). Long-time friend
Andy Griffith visited Knotts’ bedside a few hours before he died. His daughter stayed with him until his death.
Knotts’ obituaries cited him as a huge influence on other entertainers. Musician and fan
J.D. Wilkes said this about Knotts:
“Only a genius like Knotts could make an anxiety-ridden, passive-aggressive Napoleon character like Fife a familiar, welcome friend each week. Without his awesome contributions to television there would’ve been no other over-the-top, self-deprecating acts like Conan O’Brien or Chris Farley.”
Knotts is buried at
Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
(External Link)
His hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, has begun creation of a statue of the actor's likeness that will be placed in a special memorial park along the river and Don Knotts Boulevard.
Filmography
Film
Television
Search for Tomorrow (1953-1955)
The Steve Allen Show (1956-1960)
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1965)
The New Steve Allen Show (1961-1963)
The Don Knotts Show (1970-1971)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972)
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)
I Love a Mystery (1973)
Steve Allen's Laugh Back (1975)
Fantasy Island (1978-1979)
Three's Company (1979-1984)
The Little Troll Prince (1985)
Return to Mayberry (1986)
Johnny Bravo
Matlock (1987-1995)
What a Country (1987)
(1991)
Jingle Bells (1999)
Quints (2000)
Hermie: A Common Caterpillar (2003)
Odd Job Jack (2003)
8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter (2003)
Hermie and Friends (2004)
Robot Chicken (2005)
That 70's Show (2005)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Don Knotts'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://don_knotts.totallyexplained.com">Don Knotts Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
