Don Knotts, whose 1960s portrayal of a bony, high-strung, bug-eyed N.C. sheriff's deputy outshone even the star of "The Andy Griffith Show," died after a battle against lung cancer, it was announced Saturday. He was 81.
Knotts, who died late Friday, was a versatile entertainer in his long career -- a ventriloquist, star of movie comedies, Broadway actor and in the supporting cast of television shows like "Three's Company."
But the role that defined him was one he walked away from: that of cocky Mayberry Deputy Barney Fife, starring opposite his old friend Andy Griffith.
Griffith, who played the common-sense center in the hamlet of quirky rustics, was one of the last to visit Knotts at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"Don was a small man ... but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Griffith told The Associated Press.
Knotts' dead-on portrayal left an imprint so indelible on the national consciousness that the name Barney Fife is still applied to petty police maneuvers.
Native of West Virginia
Knotts was born Jesse Donald Knotts on July 21, 1924, in Morgantown, W.Va., a college town south of Pittsburgh. He learned ventriloquism as a youth and earned money entertaining as a high school student.
At 19, he quit college and enrolled in the Army as the United States entered World War II. He was assigned to a unit charged with entertaining the troops. Knotts focused on stand-up comedy, learning to use his wiry frame and bulging eyes as physical props in his routines.
He returned to West Virginia University after the war and graduated with a degree in theater in 1948. He moved to New York City, where he worked in clubs and landed a radio role as Windy Wales on the Bobby Benson show.
Soap role was TV break
He got national exposure first in 1953 on the struggling new medium of television, playing a two-year role for the soap opera "Search for Tomorrow."
In 1956, he landed a recurring spot on NBC's "Tonight Show," then hosted by Steve Allen. One of the characters he perfected was the timid, jumpy victim of staged man-in-the-street interviews, a role that laid the foundation for the future Barney Fife.
In the mid-'50s, Knotts took a role in Broadway's "No Time for Sergeants." Playing opposite him was the up-and-coming Andy Griffith, then the nation's reigning rural comedian.
When the play was made into a movie in 1958, Knotts was asked to reprise his portrayal of Cpl. John C. Brown, providing his first break into movies.
Two years later, Knotts heard that Griffith was developing a show for CBS about a bumpkin sheriff. He called his friend to inquire: "You got a deputy?"
With that, Knotts talked his way into a show that would win him five Emmys, while Griffith would go without.
Among TV's top shows
"The Andy Griffith Show" debuted Oct. 3, 1960, and quickly became one of television's most successful shows. It still performs well in reruns despite black-and-white episodes, a dated Ford Galaxie patrol car and an operator-assisted telephone system, all relics of an ancient technological age.
"Originally, I was supposed to be funny," Griffith recalled in a 2003 interview with the Observer. "I noticed on the second episode that Don was funny and I should be straight. That set it up, and I played straight to the rest."
Griffith added that he never regretted making that adjustment. "The straight man has the best part," he said. "He gets to be in the show and see it, too."
Deputy Fife was the comic grist for many of the show's most memorable episodes: The time he bought a lemon as his first car from a con lady, the time he was taken hostage by escapees from the Women's Prison, the time he took to patrolling in a surplus motorcycle with sidecar, the times he was told by Sheriff Taylor to get ready for action by inserting into his revolver the one bullet he was allowed to carry.
After five years and at the height of the show's success, Knotts decided to leave the cast to make movies. "I didn't try to talk him out of it," Griffith recalled. "Don tells the story that I always told him that I would only do the show for five years.
"He left a hole in the show that couldn't be filled. The last three years of the show, we just spread the comedy out among other characters."
On to other comedies
Knotts starred in a series of comedy films for Universal Pictures, including "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," "The Reluctant Astronaut" and "The Shakiest Gun in the West."
His star faded afterward until landing a role as the swinger-wannabe landlord Ralph Furley on the jiggly romp "Three's Company."
He resurfaced next to Griffith in 1988 for a four-year role as Benjamin Matlock's neighbor on "Matlock."
He refused to retire, touring with plays as late as last year and doing voice work for cartoons including appearances in "Scooby Doo" and Disney's "Chicken Little."
"I loved him very much," Griffith said Saturday. "We had a long and wonderful life together."
-- LOS ANGELES TIMES NEWS SERVICE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT
-- Mark Washburn: (704) 358-5007; mwashburn@charlotteobserver.com
Career Highlights
FILMS
"Chicken Little," 2005
"Pleasantville," 1998
"Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," 1977
"The Apple Dumpling Gang," 1974
"The Shakiest Gun in the West," 1968
"The Reluctant Astronaut," 1967
"The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," 1966
"The Incredible Mr. Limpet," 1964
TV HIGHLIGHTS
"Matlock," 1988-92
"Three's Company," 1979-84
"The Andy Griffith Show," 1960-68
"The Steve Allen Show," 1956-61
"Search for Tomorrow," 1953-55
Barney's Best Episodes
Among the best-known episodes starring Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show:"
"Barney and the Choir" (February 1962): Tone-deaf Barney thinks he's solo material in the choir.
"Convicts at Large" (December 1962): Barney and Floyd are taken hostage by three escapees from the Women's Prison.
"Barney's First Car" (April 1963): Barney buys a lemon from a con lady.
"Citizen's Arrest" (December 1963): Gomer arrests Barney.
"Barney's Sidecar" (January 1964): Barney starts a motorcycle patrol.
-- MARK WASHBURN / TV-RADIO WRITER
