"Don Knotts, who won TV immortality and five Emmys for playing the bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" with self-deprecating humor, was remembered by his friend and co-star as a comedic genius who wrote some of the show's best scenes."
"Don was a small man ... but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Griffith told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Don was special. There's nobody like him."
"Knotts, 81, died Friday of pulmonary and respiratory complications at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said Sherwin Bash, his friend and manager."
"His half-century career included more than 25 films and seven TV series, most notably playing the bug-eyed deputy who 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."
Sorry to see him go. Yet another of my childhood favorites bites the dust. I never missed him on
The Andy Griffith Show back in the sixties, in fact my little sister used to
insist on calling it the Barney Fife show. I enjoyed that show up to the time he left it, and after that, the show just didn't seem worthwhile to me anymore. Like the heart had been cut out of it.
I found a site dedicated to his memory:
"His talents range from keeper of law and order (Barney Fife, The Andy Griffith Show) to sex symbol (Abner Peacock, The Love God) but underneath it all, he has always remained an unappreciated man of integrity, humility and most of all - cheesiness!"
"So dear Mr. Knotts, we salute you and thank you for teaching us to laugh about life and love again!"
If you loved Don, you should check out that site. Along with listing his accomplishments, you'll find some short sound clips, but the
real treasure lies on a page with the MP3s of a comedy album he did back in 1961 that you've
got to listen to called:
R.I.P. Don, you made life a little easier for us all.
