Don Knotts

Before he entered high school, Knotts began performing as a ventriloquist and comedian at various church and school functions.[1]^: 5 After high school, he traveled to New York City to try to make his way as a comedian, but when his career failed to take off, returned home to attend West Virginia University. After his freshman year, he joined the U.S. Army and spent most of his service entertaining troops.[6] He toured the western Pacific Islands as a comedian, in a G.I. variety show called "Stars and Gripes".[9] His ventriloquist act included a dummy named Danny, which Knotts grew to hate—and eventually threw overboard, according to friend and castmate Al Checco.[1]^: 7

Knotts served in the army from June 21, 1943, to January 6, 1946, in the Army's 6817th Special Services Battalion.[10] He was discharged at the rank of Technician Grade 5, then equivalent to a corporal.[10] During his service, he was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal (with four bronze service stars), the American Campaign Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Army Marksman Badge (with an M1 Carbine) and the Honorable Service Lapel Pin.[1]^: 18[10]

After being demobilized, Knotts returned to West Virginia University and graduated in 1948. He married Kay Metz and moved back to New York, where connections he had made in the Special Services Branch helped him break into show business. In addition to doing stand-up comedy at clubs, he appeared on radio, eventually playing the wisecracking, know-it-all character "Windy Wales" on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders".[11]

Knotts got his first break on television in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on Steve Allen's variety show, as part of Allen's repertory company, most notably in Allen's mock "Man in the Street" interviews, always playing an extremely nervous man. He remained with Allen through the 1959–1960 season. From October 20, 1955, through September 14, 1957, he appeared in the Broadway stage version of No Time for Sergeants, where he played two roles, listed on the playbill as a Corporal Manual Dexterity and A Preacher.[12] In 1958, he made his movie debut with Andy Griffith in the film version of No Time for Sergeants, where he reprised his Broadway role, and played a high-strung Air Force test administrator whose routine is disrupted by the hijinks of a provincial new recruit.[13]

As Barney Fife, Knotts gets the help of Sheriff Taylor when his gun gets stuck on his finger.

Knotts receives his first Emmy Award for The Andy Griffith Show, 1961.

In 1960, Andy Griffith was offered the opportunity to headline his own sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968). Knotts took the role of Barney Fife, the deputy—and originally cousin—of Sheriff Andy Taylor (portrayed by Griffith). Knotts' portrayal of the deputy on the popular show earned him five Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Comedy.[14]

A summary of the show from the website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Deputy Barney Fife:

Self-important, romantic, and nearly always wrong, Barney dreamed of the day he could use the one bullet Andy had issued to him, though he did fire his gun on a few occasions. He always fired his pistol accidentally while still in his holster or in the ceiling of the courthouse, at which point he would sadly hand his pistol to Andy. This is why Barney kept one very shiny bullet in his shirt pocket. In episode #196, Andy gave Barney more bullets so that he would have a loaded gun to go after a bad guy that Barney unintentionally helped escape. While Barney was forever frustrated that Mayberry was too small for the delusional ideas he had of himself, viewers got the sense that he couldn't have survived anywhere else. Don Knotts played the comic and pathetic sides of the character with equal aplomb and he received three Emmy Awards during the show's first five seasons.[15]

When the show first aired, Griffith was intended to be the comedic lead with Knotts as his straight man, similar to their roles in No Time for Sergeants. However, it was quickly discovered that the show was funnier with the roles reversed. As Griffith maintained in several interviews, "By the second episode, I knew that Don should be funny, and I should play straight."[16]

Knotts believed remarks by Griffith that The Andy Griffith Show would end after five seasons, and he began to look for other work, signing a five-film contract with Universal Studios. In his autobiography, Knotts admitted that he had not yet signed the contract when Griffith announced his decision to continue the series; but he had made up his mind to move on, believing he would not get the chance again. Knotts left the series in 1965. His character's absence on the show was explained by Deputy Fife's having finally made the "big time," joining the Raleigh, North Carolina, police force.[17]

On a 1967 Andy Griffith special, Knotts plays the outraged wife of Tennessee Ernie Ford, as Griffith looks on.

Knotts went on to star in a series of film comedies that drew on his high-strung persona from the television series: he had a cameo appearance in United Artists' It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and starred in Warner Bros.' The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964). Knotts then began his Universal five-film contract with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971).[1]^: 11 After making How to Frame a Figg, Knotts' five-film contract with Universal finished.

Knotts reprised his role as Barney Fife several times in the 1960s: he made five guest appearances on The Andy Griffith Show (gaining him another two Emmy Awards), and he later appeared once on the spin-off Mayberry R.F.D., where he was present as best man for the marriage of Andy Taylor and his longtime love, Helen Crump.[18] He continued to work steadily, though he did not appear as a regular on any successful television series until in 1979 he got the part of landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company for seasons 4 through 8, after the departure of Norman Fell, who had played the previous landlord.[19]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Knotts served as the spokesman for Dodge trucks and was featured prominently in a series of print ads and dealer brochures. On television, he went on to host a variety show/sitcom hybrid on NBC, The Don Knotts Show, which aired Tuesdays during the fall of 1970, but the series was low-rated and short-lived, and Knotts was uncomfortable with the variety show format.[1]^: 12 He also made frequent guest appearances on other shows such as The Bill Cosby Show and Here's Lucy. In 1970, he appeared as a Barney Fife-like police officer in the pilot of The New Andy Griffith Show. In 1972, Knotts voiced an animated version of himself in two episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies: "The Spooky Fog of Juneberry", in which he played a lawman resembling Barney Fife, and "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner". He appeared as Felix Unger in a stage version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, with Art Carney as Oscar Madison, and toured in the Neil Simon comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers.[1]^: 13

Beginning in 1975, Knotts was teamed with Tim Conway in a series of slapstick films aimed at children, including the Disney film The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) and its sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979). They also did two independent films, the boxing comedy The Prize Fighter (1979), and the mystery-comedy The Private Eyes (1980). Knotts co-starred in several other Disney films, including Gus (1976), No Deposit, No Return (1976), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) and Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978).

In 1979, Knotts returned to series television in his second most identifiable role, the wacky but lovable landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company.[1]^: 13 The series, which was already an established hit, added Knotts to the cast when the original landlords, Stanley and Helen Roper (a married couple played by Norman Fell and Audra Lindley, respectively) left to star in their own short-lived spin-off series The Ropers.

On set, Knotts easily integrated himself into the already established cast who were, as John Ritter put it, "so scared" of Knotts because of his star status. When Suzanne Somers left the show after a contract dispute in 1981, the writers started giving the material meant for Somers's Chrissy to Knotts' Furley. Knotts remained on the series until it ended in 1984. The Three's Company script supervisor, Carol Summers, became Knotts' agent and often accompanied him to personal appearances.

In 1986, Knotts reunited with Andy Griffith in the made-for-television film Return to Mayberry, reprising his Barney Fife role.[1]^: 161 In early 1987, he joined the cast of the first-run syndication comedy What a Country!, as Principal Bud McPherson, for its remaining 13 episodes. It was produced by Martin Rips and Joseph Staretski, who had previously worked on Three's Company.

In 1988, Knotts joined Andy Griffith on TV's Matlock, in the recurring role of pesky neighbor Les Calhoun, until 1992.[1]^: 169

After that, his roles were sporadic, including a cameo appearance in the film Big Bully (1996) as the high school principal. In 1998, he had a small but pivotal role as a mysterious TV repairman in Pleasantville.[1]^: 15 That year, his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia changed the name of the street formerly known as South University Avenue (U.S. Route 119) to Don Knotts Boulevard on "Don Knotts Day".[1]^: 18-19 Also that day, in honor of Knotts' role as Barney Fife, he was named an honorary deputy sheriff with the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department.

Knotts was recognized in 2000 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[1]^: 15 He continued to act on stage, but much of his film and television work after 2000 was as voice talent. In 2002, he appeared again with Scooby-Doo in the video game Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights. (He also spoofed his appearances on that show in various promotions for Cartoon Network, and in a parody on Robot Chicken, where he was teamed with Phyllis Diller.) In 2003, he teamed up again with Tim Conway to provide voices for the direct-to-video children's series Hermie and Friends, which continued until Knotts' death. In 2005, he was the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in Chicken Little (2005), his first Disney movie since 1979. On September 12, 2003, he was in Kansas City, in a stage version of On Golden Pond, when he received a call from John Ritter's family telling him that his former Three's Company co-star had died of an aortic dissection that day. He and his co-stars attended the funeral four days later. Knotts had appeared with Ritter one final time earlier in 2003 in a cameo on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, in an episode that paid homage to their earlier television series. Knotts was the last Three's Company star to work with Ritter.

During this period of time, macular degeneration in both eyes caused the otherwise robust Knotts to become virtually blind. His live appearances on television were few. In 2005, he parodied his Ralph Furley character while playing a Paul Young variation in a Desperate Housewives sketch on The 3rd Annual TV Land Awards. He parodied that part one final time in "Stone Cold Crazy", an episode of the sitcom That '70s Show, where he played the landlord. It was his last live-action television appearance. His final role was in Air Buddies (2006), a direct-to-video sequel to Air Bud, voicing the sheriff's deputy dog Sniffer.