Post by Star♫ on Feb 28, 2006 17:03:04 GMT -5
Don Knotts, the beloved funnyman who made generations of TV audiences laugh playing Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show and landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company, passed away on Friday, February 24, 2006 of pulmonary and respiratory complications at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. He was 81. At the time of his passing Knotts was surrounded by his wife, Francey, his children, Karen and Thomas, and his longtime friend Andy Griffith, as well as Andy's wife, Cindi.
Born on July 21, 1924, in Morgantown, WV, Knotts began performing as a ventriloquist and comedian at various church and school functions as a very young man. He traveled to New York City to try and make his way as a comedian, but returned home to attend West Virginia University when his career failed to take off. After his freshman year in college Knotts joined the Army, and during World War II he toured the Pacific Islands as a comedian in a G.I. variety show called Stars and Gripes.
After graduating from college in 1948, Knotts returned to New York City where he quickly became a regular on several television and radio programs. In 1955, he made his debut on Broadway in the hit comedy No Time for Sergeants, which marked his first collaboration with Andy Griffith. Knotts appeared as a regular member of the ensemble cast on NBC's The Steve Allen Show from 1956-1960, and moved to Hollywood when the show relocated in 1959.
Knotts joined Griffith on The Andy Griffith Show in 1960, playing the bug-eyed, bumbling Deputy Barney Fife to Griffith's Sheriff Andy Taylor. Knotts stayed with the tremendously successful show for five seasons, during which he won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role in a Series. Though he left The Andy Griffith Show in 1965 to pursue a film career, his periodic returns in 1966 and 1967 earned him two more Emmys.
He was one of several comedians to appear in the 1963 movie It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and his first leading role in a film came in 1964, with The Incredible Mr. Limpet. His other films included The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966); The Reluctant Astronaut (1967); The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968); The Love God? (1969); and Disney films such as The Apple Dumpling Gang (1974); Gus (1976); and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977).
In 1979, Knotts returned to his successful TV roots, joining the hit comedy Three's Company as the would-be ladies man, leisure suit-clad landlord Mr. Furley. He remained on the show until it went off the air in 1984. The role introduced Knotts and his self-deprecating humor to a whole new generation of TV viewers.
In 1998, he played a key role in the acclaimed movie Pleasantville as a mysterious TV repairman who ushers two 1990s youngsters into the black-and-white world of 1950s television. He continued to appear in numerous theater productions. In 1999, the notoriously shy and private Knotts published his autobiography, Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known.
The funeral services will be private and the family plans a memorial to Knotts in the coming weeks.
TV Land will pay tribute to this dear friend with a Primetime Tribute Marathon of The Andy Griffith Show on Tuesday, February 28 starting at 8PM (ET/PT) and a 48-Hour Don Knotts Tribute Marathon featuring The Andy Griffith Show and Three's Company this coming weekend, March 4-5.
Tvland.com had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Knotts in New York City on April 25, 2001. Click here to watch that interview. You can visit Mayberry at tvland.com by clicking here.
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