Wikipedia provides a concise career summary:Īfter being a regular performer in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow from 1953 to 1955, he gained additional exposure in 1956 on Steve Allen’s variety show, appearing in Allen’s mock “Man in the Street” interviews, always as a man obviously very nervous about being on camera. Here’s a much more recent photo of Griffith and Knotts, taken for the “ TV Land Awards,” 7 March 2004: The three subsequent seasons, all in color rather than the black and white of the Knotts era, were fine but nowhere near as good. The result is the best five year run of any sitcom, ever. Rather than try to grab the best lines for himself, he became the straight man and let Knotts have even more camera time. Andy Griffith, already a well-established comedic actor and stand-up comic when the show began, quickly realized that Knotts was stealing the show. If there was ever a better sitcom character over a sustained period, I haven’t seen it. Knotts won an Emmy as Best Supporting Actor each of the five years he played Barney Fife. We are currently rectifying that situation and watching every episode, in order, on DVD via Netflix. My wife, growing up as she did in New England, did not have the cultural advantages that I did and had never seen the show. I have often said that “The Andy Griffith Show” was the best television show of any genre ever made. Still, I have probably seen every episode numerous times in the intervening years. Indeed, he played the character from 1960-1965, before I was born. I’m older than Stotch but even I didn’t watch Don Knotts play Barney Fife when the show was on. Furley’s leisure suits and jokes about Jack Tripper’s faux homosexuality were hilarious, and that show stands as an interesting snapshot of a strange era in American sociopolitical culture. I have almost no recollection of “The Andy Griffith Show,” so Knotts to me will be remembered as the flamboyant would-be stud from “Three’s Company.” Mr. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are “I Love Lucy” and “Seinfeld.” The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and have spawned a large, active network of fan clubs. The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. The West Virginia-born actor’s half-century career included seven TV series and more than 25 films, but it was the Griffith show that brought him TV immortality and five Emmys. “We had a long and wonderful life together.” “Don was a small man … but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions,” Griffith told The Associated Press on Saturday. Griffith, who remained close friends with Knotts, said he had a brilliant comedic mind and wrote some of the show’s best scenes. Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at a Los Angeles hospital, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs his two signature shows. Don Knotts, TV’s Lovable Nerd, Dies at 81 (AP)ĭon Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on “Three’s Company,” has died.
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