Don Knotts passes away at 81. The man was one of the comedy greats of all time. RIP Barney Fife. Thank you for making me chuckle hundreds of times.
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Don Knotts passes away at 81. The man was one of the comedy greats of all time. RIP Barney Fife. Thank you for making me chuckle hundreds of times.
the world has indeed lost a great comic. He was the perfect Barney and made some great movies. I told my wife a few weeks ago that the days when Andy and Don passed away would be some sad days
No computer magic for most of his heyday, you just played the part. Sure was a simpler time. Time catches all of us. Go for the gusto, while you are younger, gang.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81.
Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show," and another Knotts hit, "Three's Company."
Unspecified health problems had forced him to cancel an appearance in his native Morgantown in August 2005.
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 Emmies.
The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. 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.
As the bug-eyed deputy to Griffith, Knotts carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.
Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and doesn't mind being remembered that way.
His favorite episodes, he said, were "The Pickle Story," where Aunt Bea makes pickles no one can eat, and "Barney and the Choir," where no one can stop him from singing.
"I can't sing. It makes me sad that I can't sing or dance well enough to be in a musical, but I'm just not talented in that way," he lamented. "It's one of my weaknesses."
Knotts appeared on six other television shows. In 1979, Knotts replaced Norman Fell on "Three's Company," playing the would-be swinger landlord to John Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt.
Early in his TV career, he was one of the original cast members of "The Steve Allen Show," the comedy-variety show that ran from 1956-61. He was one of a group of memorable comics backing Allen that included Louis Nye, Tom Poston and Bill "Jose Jimenez" Dana.
Knotts' G-rated films were family fun, not box-office blockbusters. In most, he ends up the hero and gets the girl -- a girl who can see through his nervousness to the heart of gold.
In the part-animated 1964 film "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Knotts played a meek clerk who turns into a fish after he is rejected by the Navy.
When it was announced in 1998 that Jim Carrey would star in a "Limpet" remake, Knotts responded: "I'm just flattered that someone of Carrey's caliber is remaking something I did. Now, if someone else did Barney Fife, THAT would be different."
In the 1967 film "The Reluctant Astronaut," co-starring Leslie Nielsen, Knotts' father enrolls his wimpy son -- operator of a Kiddieland rocket ride -- in NASA's space program. Knotts poses as a famous astronaut to the joy of his parents and hometown but is eventually exposed for what he really is, a janitor so terrified of heights he refuses to ride an airplane.
In the 1969 film "The Love God?," he was a geeky bird-watcher who is duped into becoming publisher of a naughty men's magazine and then becomes a national sex symbol. Eventually, he comes to his senses, leaves the big city and marries the sweet girl next door.
He was among an army of comedians from Buster Keaton to Jonathan Winters to liven up the 1963 megacomedy "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Other films include "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966); "The Shakiest Gun in the West," (1968); and a few Disney films such as "The Apple Dumpling Gang," (1974); "Gus," (1976); and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," (1977).
In 1998, he had a key role in the back-to-the-past movie "Pleasantville," playing a folksy television repairman whose supercharged remote control sends a teen boy and his sister into a TV sitcom past.
Knotts began his show biz career even before he graduated from high school, performing as a ventriloquist at local clubs and churches. He majored in speech at West Virginia University, then took off for the big city.
"I went to New York cold. On a $100 bill. Bummed a ride," he recalled in a visit to his hometown of Morgantown, where city officials renamed a street for him in 1998.
Within six months, Knotts had taken a job on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders," playing a wisecracking, know-it-all handyman. He stayed with it for five years, then came his series TV debut on "The Steve Allen Show."
He married Kay Metz in 1948, the year he graduated from college. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1969. Knotts later married, then divorced Lara Lee Szuchna.
In recent years, he said he had no plans to retire, traveling with theater productions and appearing in print and TV ads for Kodiak pressure treated wood.
The world laughed at Knotts, but it also laughed with him.
He treasured his comedic roles and could point to only one role that wasn't funny, a brief stint on the daytime drama "Search for Tomorrow."
"That's the only serious thing I've done. I don't miss that," Knotts said.
Very sad to hear Don Knotts had passed away. The Andy Griffith Show was in reruns before I was even born, but I can always kill 30 minutes watching Barney Fife.
Is it just me or does it almost feel like you lost a relative?
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Is it just me or does it almost feel like you lost a relative?
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almost
great sentiment!
It is so sad he is gone. I loved watching anything he played in. Especially the "Apple Dumpling Gang" I think that is the right spelling. I also enjoyed the famous Andy Griffith and Three's Company. I also laughed at him until tears fell down my face. He truely is one of the best comedians. I will miss him. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
I couldn't and doubt I can explain it. I can sit down and watch an episode of Andy anytime, seen it 1000 times or not. That show was so perfect 99% of the time and actually had such a decency about it.
One of the best family shows ever made. My family still watches them, even though we've watched them a million times.
lets hope Hollywood never tried to make the show into a bigscreen movie.
Oh give them time, I'm sure that someone will get the rights and screw it up at some point.
Actually even though it was different, Dukes of Hazzard was another show I thought that had a generally good vibe to it, but then the movie came out and while I didn't hate it, it wasn't the show.
If it would be anything like "The Dukes Of Hazzard" show. Then no I would rather them just leave the show alone. IMO the movie of "The Dukes Of Hazzard" was awful compared to the real series.
This is really sad. The world did lose a great comic today. They betetr not make a movie about the show it would suck like everything else they try to make into a movie from an old show.
Some of you may know who I am talking about. There is a guy in the Tri Cities area who impersonates Barney Fife. He was at my company Christmas party several years back and does a great job. I think last year he was at a Salem Avalanche baseball game. Wish I could remember his name, but if you ever get the chance, he is definitely worth seeing.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. That guy is pathetic. I can't stand him. Just because you're a skinny white guy, with dark hair, in a deputy's uniform, doesn't make you a Barney Fife impersonator. He doesn't act nor sound like Knott's charactor. I can't stand that guy. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
He does those stupid car commercials, I agree with Ironlung I don't like him at all
always a good story and a good laugh in every show
"Pistol-packin' Barney Fife". One of my favorite episodes of The AGS was Barney's song about himself. Of course, Andy has lyrics of his own to add, making it one of the most hilarious endings I've ever seen. A true sentiment has already been mentioned...a family member is gone. The greatest thing about it is that he will be alive as long as there is video. Don Knotts was a true comedic genius.
Hang up your hat, old pal. You've earned a rest. We'll miss you. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
David Browning
Agree-he's a dork!
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David Browning
Agree-he's a dork!
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Dork doesn't do him justice
Dang, tough crowd! Sorry I brought it up. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
TVland Andy Griffith marathon starting at 8pm tomorrow feb 28th.
YAY! [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
I hope it shows the one with Jimmy the dynamite eatin' goat
or the one with the talking dog.
Im kinda stoked about the one where Barney gets thrown out by Ms. Mendlebright for cooking in his room then he gets plastered on accident [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
My favs were when Barney wore the wedding dress with Ernest T Bass, and the one where he gets the motorcycle, and pulls off with Andy in the side car. My fav TV show of all time BTW
I have to agree with Fried Taters about Jimmy the Goat,,
KABLOOEY !!!!!!!!