RIP Don Knotts

[Seattle93]

From the AP Wire 2 minutes ago:


BC-Obit-Knotts, 1st Ld,0365
URGENT
Actor Don Knotts dies at 81; made being a nerd OK
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
Associated Press Writer

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."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-02-25-06 1737EST

So long, Don. :(

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009VU01.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006JMSL.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[crazybob60]

This seriously saddens my day. He was my avatar for years.
May he rest in peace!

[Seattle93]

This seriously saddens my day. He was my avatar for years.
May he rest in peace!

Maybe you should resurrect the avatar in honor...

[akip]

aw, shit.

i really love his speech in the ghost and mr. chicken. "let me clarify this..."

RIP don.

[aqualou]

you had to love him
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009YXAV.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://disney.wretch.cc/mvdata/data/Apple_Dumpling_Gang_Rides_Again.jpg

[purple_octopus]

Maybe you should resurrect the avatar in honor...
I agree, C-Bob.

[Seattle93]

AP 2nd Writethru:

BC-Obit-Knotts, 2nd Ld-Writethru,0966
URGENT
Actor Don Knotts dies at 81; made being a nerd OK
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
Associated Press Writer

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.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-02-25-06 1744EST

[yoshomon]

:( :( :(

Rip.

[markalot]

Damn,

He will be missed. :(

[jneale]

yet another guy I thought was already dead

[frizgolf]

http://www.tvcrazy.net/images/andy/wallpaper/barney_fife.jpg

[Homsar]

Is that Mr. Limpet where he turns into a fish?

If so, I remember seeing that and thinking it was one of the weirdest things I'd ever seen.

[jneale]

Is that Mr. Limpet where he turns into a fish?

If so, I remember seeing that and thinking it was one of the weirdest things I'd ever seen.

yes, long before the "groundbreaking" roger rabbit

[tobedawg]

RIP Don Knotts..

The first thing that came to my mind was the line from "Serial Mom", "Don Fucking Knotts!"

AND the thought that Mr. Furley is dead.. :(

[REMgirl]

Now Mick Jagger can take over as his look-alike. :D


I'm going to rent The Ghost and Mr Chicken. I watched that when I was a kid and thought it was wonderful. We'll see how well it holds up after all these years.

[akip]

The first thing that came to my mind was the line from "Serial Mom", "Don Fucking Knotts!"



john waters will be very sad. he always wanted to direct and play the lead in "the life and times of don knotts."

[Jumpman]

you had to love him
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009YXAV.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://disney.wretch.cc/mvdata/data/Apple_Dumpling_Gang_Rides_Again.jpg
I definitely loved the ADG flicks as a kid.

RIP

:(

[The Ugly Thief]

Andy Griffith was at Knotts' bedside when he died

damn, is there any more depressing scene than Andy watching Barney Fife die ?

nevermind, i'll answer that myself with a "no"

v

[REMgirl]

But it sure says a lot about their friendship. :)

[akip]

But it sure says a lot about their friendship. :)

that's right. hope one of my long-time friends is there for me when i make my exit.

[The Big Crunch]

damn, is there any more depressing scene than Andy watching Barney Fife die ?

nevermind, i'll answer that myself with a "no"

v
:( :( :( :(

I grew up watching the Andy Griffith Show. My grandmother and Aunt loved it, and whenever we visited them, it was always on. Back then, there weren't all these cable channels like today. As best as I recall, you had HBO, Showtime, ESPN, Nickelodeon and TBS. Back then TBS was just getting itself together, and its schedule was kind've thin; however, they did have the Andy Griffith Show and they played a LOT of that show to keep something on the air. Growing up in rural eastern North Carolina (and being born just a short drive from Mount Airy in western NC, the town which Mayberry was loosely based on) I always felt a kinship to the show. I just got the first two DVD collections a few months back and still love the shows. Those things were wonderfully written and the acting was impeccable. There's definitely a part of me that wishes things could just be simple and wholesome like on that show, and if there was ever a better TV dad than Andy, then I haven't seen him. The episode where the city slicker gets pulled over for speeding and gets stuck in Mayberry for a day is one of the loveliest imaginings of a perfect, small-town Southern Utopia I have ever seen. Towards the tail end of the episode where Barney, Andy, Opie and Aunt Bee are sitting on the front porch as evening settles in, while Andy plays guitar and sings a soft gospel number with the sounds of the crickets in the background...fuckin' A, it's so serene...

Anyway, Knotts was integral to that show and repeatedly displayed a genius for comic acting in his delivery, timing, and masterful physical comedy. Furthermore, he really fleshed out that character; Fife could have been purely a gag, but Knotts imbued him with a warm and sympathetic humanity that made you care about him while you also laughed at his antics. From what I've read over the years, he was also a genuinely nice and good-hearted man.

Also, I heard that one of the real difficulties in the "Barney and the Choir" episode arose from the fact that Knotts was actually a very strong singer and had to really work at sounding that bad. In interviews he suggested that he really couldn't sing a lick, but I don't know if this is just self-deprecation and humility. Anyone know for sure?

Rest in peace, Mr. KNotts.

[bjk15]

the weird thing was, was that i was up in indianapolis on saturday and they have a restaurant on the west side in danville called mayberry that is an andy griffith show mini-shrine that i ate at like at 2pm.

[justa bill]

he made a lot of people laugh. RIP Mr. Knotts.

hearing "nip it in the bud" still makes me smile.

[crazybob60]

The avatar shall be resurrected in memory of Mr. Knotts. I couldn't watch the special they had on him on ET...just too sad, especially when Andy came on.

[REMgirl]

I'm glad you brought back the Barney avatar back as a tribute. I saw an interview with Andy Griffith on the day after Don Knotts died and it was very sweet and sad. They remained close friends over the years and deeply respected and cared for each other. I'm sure if Andy had died first, Don would have been at his side. Seems extra special for Hollywood. :)

[The Big Crunch]

he made a lot of people laugh. RIP Mr. Knotts.

hearing "nip it in the bud" still makes me smile.

"You've gotta nip it in the bud Andy!"...I love that episode. How about the one where he's on the phone with his girlfriend and starts doing his rooster impression for her ("cok-a-doodle-do") while Andy looks on, unnoticed and amused. The episode with the dogs, where Barney gives the little lecture on the diferences between dogs and giraffes is also among my favs.

[uselesstomato]

i missed this thread.... that is sad.... RIP

[akip]

i like the episodes with the wild girls from mt. pilot.