Don Knotts
Born Jesse Donald Knotts on
July 21, 1924
in Morgantown, WV
Died
Feb. 24, 2006
of lung cancer in UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, CA
Don Knotts was the saucer-eyed, scarecrow-thin comic actor best known for his roles as the high-strung small-town deputy Barney Fife on the 1960s CBS series "The Andy Griffith Show" and the leisure-suit-clad landlord Ralph Furley on ABC's sitcom "Three's Company" in the late '70s and early '80s. Knotts first rose to prominence in the late 1950s, joining Louis Nye and other comedy players on "The Steve Allen Show." In 1961, United Artists Records released a comedy album titled "Don Knotts: An Evening With Me," which featured various takeoffs on the "nervous man" routine the comic had made famous on Allen's show. One of the bits, "The Weatherman," concerned a TV forecaster forced to wing it after the meteorology report fails to make it to the studio by air time. During the mid- to late 1960s, in a largely unsuccessful bid for major film stardom, Knotts made a series of family films that many connoisseurs now say were critically underappreciated at the time. These include "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" (1964), "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966) and "The Reluctant Astronaut" (1967). The latter two were made as part of a five-picture deal with Universal Pictures. Many TV viewers remember Knotts as Ralph Furley, the ascot-wearing middle-aged landlord who mistakenly viewed himself as a swinger on ABC's hit sex farce "Three's Company." However, it was his portrayal of Barney Fife — a role for which he won five Emmy Awards — that immortalized Knotts to TV viewers. Deputy Fife, an inveterate bumbler, was not in the series pilot, and was at first intended simply to be part of a large ensemble that would surround Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor in Mayberry, a fictional North Carolina town near Raleigh.
|
Related stars
|
|
Points of interest
Permalink
|
Delicious
|
Digg
|
Facebook
|
Twitter
|
Enjoy more stories like this for 
Share a thought about Don Knotts
Did you ever meet Don Knotts? Share your memory.
Which other stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have connections to Don Knotts?
Are other places in the world important to Don Knotts?
Does Don Knotts deserve this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?