Actor don knotts dies at 81

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 a Los Angeles hospital, 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, W.Va., 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 Emmys.

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.

No. 1, with one bullet
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 Bee 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 Jo

Knotts won over millions of fans as Deputy Barney Fife in the hugely popular 1960s series.

He also played landlord Ralph Furley in 1980s sitcom Three's Company.

Knott died of pulmonary and respiratory complications. Co-star Griffith said: "Don was a small man, but everything else about him was large."

"Don was special. There's nobody like him," he added.

"I loved him very much. We had a long and wonderful life together."

As Griffith's fumbling deputy, Knotts carried in his shirt pocket the single bullet his character was allowed after shooting himself in the foot.

He began his career as a ventriloquist in his home town of Morgantown, West Virginia, and began working as a stand-up comedian entertaining troops during World War II.

His film roles included The Reluctant Astronaut, which also starred Leslie Nielsen, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.

Knotts also had a key role in 1998's Pleasantville, playing a television repairman whose remote control sent two youngsters into a sitcom past.

American actor and comedian (1924–2006)

Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He also played Ralph Furley on the sitcom Three's Company from 1979 to 1984. He starred in multiple comedic films, including leading roles in The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). In 2004, TV Guide ranked him number 27 on its "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time" list.

Knotts was born in West Virginia, the youngest of four children. In the 1940s, before earning a college degree, he served in the United States Army and in World War II. While enlisted, he chose to become a ventriloquist and comedian as part of a G.I. variety show, Stars and Gripes.

After the army, he got his first major break on television on the soap operaSearch for Tomorrow, where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. He gained wide recognition as part of the repertory company on Steve Allen's variety show, where he played the "extremely nervous man" in Al

Don Knotts, the saucer-eyed, scarecrow-thin comic actor best known for his roles as the high-strung small-town deputy Barney Fife on the 1960s CBS series “The Andy Griffith Show” and the leisure-suit-clad landlord Ralph Furley on ABC’s ‘70s sitcom “Three’s Company,” has died. He was 81.

Knotts, who lived in West Los Angeles, died Friday night of lung cancer at UCLA Medical Center, according to Sherwin Bash, his longtime manager.

Family members said that his longtime friend Griffth was one of his last visitors at Cedars on Friday night.

Despite health problems, Knotts had kept working in recent months. He lent his distinctive, high-pitched voice as Turkey Mayor in Walt Disney’s animated family film “Chicken Little,” which was released in November 2005. He also did guest spots in 2005 on NBC’s “Las Vegas” and Fox’s “That ‘70s Show.” He occasionally co-headlined in live comedy shows with Tim Conway, his sometime co-star in Disney films such as “The Apple Dumpling Gang.” Knotts also appeared as the TV repairman in director Gary Ross’s whimsical 1998 comedy “Pleasantville,” and voiced the part of T.W. Turtle in the 1997 animated feature “Cats Don’t Dance.”

As he grew older, Knotts became a lodestar for younger comic actors. The new generation came to appreciate his highly physical brand of acting that, at its best, was in the tradition of silent-film greats such as Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel and Harold Lloyd.

Knotts first rose to prominence in the late 1950s, joining Louis Nye and other comedy players on “The Steve Allen Show.” In 1961, United Artists Records released a comedy album entitled “Don Knotts: An Evening with Me,” which featured various takeoffs on the “nervous man” routine the comic had made famous on Allen’s show. One of the bits, “The Weatherman,” concerned a TV forecaster forced to wing it after the meteorology report fails to make it to the studio by air time.

During the mid to late