RIP: Barnie Fife

Actor Don Knotts dies at 81

Knotts played Mayberry's hapless Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife.

By Louie Estrada

THE WASHINGTON POST

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Don Knotts, the rail-thin comic actor who was perhaps best known to millions of TV viewers as bungling Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife in "The Andy Griffith Show" and the squirrelly landlord in "Three's Company," died of lung cancer Friday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Knotts, who often played high-strung characters, won five Emmys for Best Supporting Actor during the 1960s as the swaggering but hapless Fife. The deputy's constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of Knotts' self-deprecating humor.

Don Knotts won five Emmys for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on 'The Andy Griffith Show.' He also appeared in 'Return to Mayberry' in 1986.

Knotts developed the character when he heard that Andy Griffith, with whom he had worked in the play "No Time for Sergeants," was putting together a TV pilot set in the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry.

The series was a huge success during its run from 1960 to 1968, consistently ranking in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings.

Knotts and Griffith remained close friends and reprised their roles in the 1986 TV movie "Return to Mayberry."

"Don was a small man . . . but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Griffith said Saturday. "Don was special. There's nobody like him."

Knotts left television in 1965 to devote more time to family-oriented film comedies that featured his bug-eyed expressions, high-pitched voice and perfect slapstick timing.

His movie credits include "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 1970s, Knotts teamed with fellow comic actor Tim Conway in the Disney movies "The Apple Dumpling Gang" and "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again."

Knotts returned to television in the late 1970s, joining the cast of ABC's popular sitcom "Three's Company" as the cad landlord Ralph Furley, a would-be swinger who usually donned an ascot and colorful leisure suits. He remained with the show until its final season in 1984.

He also performed in dinner theaters and did voice-over for animated films.

Most recently, he was the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in last year's movie "Chicken Little."

Additional material from The Associated Press.