Biography
Early life
He was born in Morgantown, West Virginia to Elsie L. Moore and William Jesse Knotts, who had once worked as farmers. His father had a nervous breakdown and lost his farm before Don was born. His father's family had been in the United States since the 17th century, originally settling in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.
Knotts' father suffered from schizophrenia and alcoholism and died when Knotts was thirteen years old.
At 19 Knotts joined the Army and served in World War II as part of a traveling GI variety show called "Stars and Gripes." He received the World War II Victory Medal. After the war Knotts graduated from his hometown West Virginia University in 1948 with a degree in theater.
Career
After 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. The humor in the interviews would be increased by having Knotts state his occupation as being one that wouldn't be an obvious choice for such a nervous, shaking person, such as a surgeon or an explosives expert.
Knotts as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show
Knotts's portrayal of a bumbling deputy sheriff on the very popular television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show was the role which earned him his greatest recognition. A summary of the show from the website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Deputy Fife:
Most of Andy's time, however, was spent controlling his earnest but over-zealous deputy, Barney Fife. Self-important, romantic, and nearly always wrong, Barney dreamed of the day he could use the one bullet (which he kept in his shirt pocket) Andy had issued to him. 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.
After leaving the series in 1965, Knotts starred in a series of film comedies which drew on his high-strung persona from the TV series: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) and The Love God? (1969).
In the late 1960s and early '70s, he served as the spokesman for Dodge trucks and was featured prominently in a series of print ads and dealer brochures. He also had a short-lived Tuesday night variety series on NBC during the fall of 1970.
In the 1970s, Knotts and Tim Conway starred together in a series of slapstick movies aimed at children, including the 1975 Disney film The Apple Dumpling Gang, and its 1979 sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.
Knotts returned to series television in the late 1970s, appearing as landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company, after Audra Lindley and Norman Fell left the show to star in a short-lived spin-off series (The Ropers). Knotts remained on the show from 1979 until it ended in 1984. In 1986, he reunited with Andy Griffith in the 1986 made-for-television movie Return to Mayberry, where he reprised his role as "Barney Fife". From 1989 to 1992, Knotts again co-starred with Griffith, playing a recurring role as pesky neighbor Les Calhoun on Matlock. More recently, he guest starred on Robot Chicken with Phyllis Diller.
In 1998 Knotts had a small but pivotal role as the mysterious TV repairman in Pleasantville. Seven years later he performed as the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in Chicken Little (2005), his first Disney movie since 1979.
In 2000 he was recognized for his television work with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Death
Knotts died at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at the age of 81 from pulmonary and respiratory complications related to lung cancer. He had been undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in recent months, but went home after he reportedly had been getting better. Actor Andy Griffith visited Knotts' bedside up until a few hours before he passed away. Knotts' obituaries began surfacing the Saturday afternoon following his death, mostly noting his Barney Fife character. Some cited him as a huge influence on other famous television stars. Musician and fan J.D. Wilkes said this about Knotts: "Only a genius like Knotts could make an anxiety-ridden, passive-aggressive Napoleon character like Fife a familiar, welcome friend each week. Without his awesome contributions to television there would've been no other over-the-top, self-deprecating acts like Conan O'Brien or Chris Farley."
Trivia
Andy Griffith often called Knotts by his first name, Jesse.
Was actually a calm and quiet person, in sharp contrast to some of his characters that he had played (especially Barney Fife and Ralph Furley).
Was a ventriloquist early in life with a doll named Danny.
Three's Company script supervisor Carol Summers went on to be Knotts' agent--often times accompanying him to personal appearances.
Wakko Warner, from the cartoon show Animaniacs, is a big fan of Don Knotts.
Filmography
No Time for Sergeants (1958)
Wake Me When It's Over (1960)
The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Move Over, Darling (1963)
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)
Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
The Love God? (1969)
How to Frame a Figg (1971)
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
No Deposit, No Return (1976)
Gus (1976)
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978)
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)
The Prize Fighter (1979)
The Private Eyes (1981)
Cannonball Run II (1984)
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987) (voice)
Big Bully (1996)
Cats Don't Dance (1997) (voice)
Pleasantville (1998)
Tom Sawyer (2000) (voice)
Chicken Little (2005) (voice)
Television work
Search for Tomorrow (cast member from 1953-1955)
The Steve Allen Show (1956-1960)
The Andy Griffith Show (cast member from 1960-1965)
The New Steve Allen Show (1961-1963) (occasional guest star)
The Don Knotts Show (1970-1971)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972)
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)
I Love a Mystery (1973)
Steve Allen's Laugh Back (1975) (canceled after a few weeks)
Three's Company (cast member from 1979-1984)
The Little Troll Prince (1985) (voice)
Return to Mayberry (1986)
Matlock (1987-1995) (occasional guest star)
What a Country (cast member in 1987)
Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
Jingle Bells (1999) (voice)
Quints (2000)
Hermie: A Common Caterpillar (2003) (voice)
Hermie & Friends (2004) (voice)
Chicken Little (2005) (voice)
References
The Andy Griffith Show from the Museum of Broadcast Communications
“Emmy-winning comic actor Don Knotts dies at 81,” Reuters, 25 February 2006.
“Don Knotts, TV's Barney Fife, Dies,” Washington Post, 25 February 2006.
Don Knotts Obituary and Pictures
“Don Knotts, Actor Known As Shaky Deputy, Dies at 81,” The New York Times, February 26, 2006.
“Don Knotts, Ever Proud to Be a Bumbler,” The New York Times, February 27, 2006.
