Damned if I Know!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Goodbye Barney. . .

Emmy-winning comic actor Don Knotts dies at 81

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Don Knotts, who won five Emmys for portraying the bungling deputy Barney Fife on the hit television program "The Andy Griffith Show," has died at age 81, a spokesman said on Saturday.

Knotts died on Friday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, California, of pulmonary and respiratory complications, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the TV Land cable network, which airs old television programs including "Andy Griffith."

His former co-star Andy Griffith was at Knotts' bedside when he died, as were Knotts' third wife, Francie, and his children, Thomas and Karen, an actress, Ward said in a statement.

Knotts' bug-eyed, high-strung character helped make "The Andy Griffith Show," a sitcom about a folksy sheriff in small-town America, one of the most popular U.S. television shows of the 1960s.

Knotts co-starred on the show from 1960 through 1965 and won the Emmy award for best supporting actor five times.

After leaving "Andy Griffith," Knotts had a string of comedy movies, including "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," "The Reluctant Astronaut" and "The Shakiest Gun in the West." He also paired with comedian Tim Conway in "The Apple Dumpling Gang" and its sequel in the 1970s.

Knotts' career idled for much of the 1970s, during which he hosted an unsuccessful variety show. He rebounded by playing the desperate-to-be-hip landlord Mr. Furley on the sitcom "Three's Company" from 1979 through 1984.

"To me, he was a genius, a kind gentle soul," Loralee Knotts, the actor's second wife, said in a telephone interview. "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."

STARTED AS VENTRILOQUIST

Knotts began his entertainment career as a ventriloquist in his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, and began working as a stand-up comedian entertaining troops after enlisting in the Army during World War Two.

In New York, he was a regular on the soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" and landed a small role in the Broadway play "No Time for Sergeants," marking the first time he worked with Griffith, who was the play's star. Griffith and Knotts also appeared together in the 1958 movie version of "No Time for Sergeants."

Knotts, who was born on July 21, 1924, began perfecting his twitchy persona in 1956 as a regular in man-on-the-street interview segments on "The Tonight Show" during Steve Allen's years as host. From there, he ended up on Griffith's new show, which premiered in 1960.

Knotts' Fife loved to flaunt his authority in small-town Mayberry and always dreamed of solving a big case but was so inept that Griffith's Sheriff Andy Taylor would not allow him to keep his gun loaded. Instead, Barney carried a single bullet in his shirt pocket.

Knotts teamed again with Griffith in the late 1980s and early 1990s in a recurring role on "Matlock," Griffith's television courtroom drama. They also appeared in an "Andy Griffith Show" reunion in 1986.

Knotts, who titled his autobiography "Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known," frequently did voice-over work in his later years, including the role of Mayor Turkey Lurkey last year in the movie "Chicken Little."

His last substantial movie appearance was in "Pleasantville," playing the key role of a television repairman who leads two 1990s children back to the black-and-white world of 1950s TV.

Posted by Lauren :: 11:27 PM :: 9 comments