Actor Don Knotts dies at 81

Don Knotts, whose portrayal of the wonderfully bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" inspired legions of would-be comics and made the scrawny West Virginian a beloved icon to three generations of television viewers, died Friday night. He was 81.

Knotts did it all, did it well and did it like no one else before or since. As a 19-year-old soldier/ventriloquist, he entertained the troops with his dummy Danny in World War II. He was one of the zany regulars on Steve Allen's groundbreaking late-night talk show in the 1950s. He enjoyed success on Broadway, appeared on the soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" for two years, headlined his own television variety show, made numerous Disney movies and even played glitzy Las Vegas.

But it would be the role of Barney Fife, nervous sidekick to the laid-back sheriff of fictional Mayberry, N.C., that was Knotts' signature work and the performance of which he remained enormously proud for 40 years.

For five years, from 1960 to 1965, Barney fought what little crime he could rustle up on the streets of the sleepy little town, searched for love in the arms of Thema Lou (with the occasional dalliance with that trashy Juanita down at the diner) and set a new standard for bullet maintenance.

Of course, he only had one bullet to care for, and Sheriff Andy made him keep it in his shirt pocket. Barney may have been a coward on the outside, but he became a bug-eyed hero when things got dicey.

Knotts' comedy was as much subtle lunacy as it was over-the-top, Harold Lloyd-style slapstick. Watching him labor to recite the preamble to the Constitution alone is worth a master's degree in comic timing. He turned ordinary scenes into priceless gems of self-deprecating bombast, as with his preening and prancing instructions to the bad guys he had just locked in the rather porous Mayberry Jail ("There are two rules at the Rock. First, obey all rules. ...")

An episode called "Dogs, Dogs, Dogs" offered Knotts at his Barney-est. He attempts to convince Opie that a pack of stray dogs he has dumped at the edge of town will be fine, even in the approaching thunderstorm. In the process, he convinces himself that the dogs are in great peril, because as we all know, "Giraffes are selfish." That seemingly nonsensical line will forever send Barney-philes into gales of laughter.

Knotts' goofy deputy was not only loved by audiences but also by critics and actors. He was on the Griffith show for five years and each year was awarded an Emmy. Guest appearances on two subsequent seasons earned him two more Emmys. Fans of the show, loosely organized in the worldwide "The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club," divide the show into the treasured Barney period and not-so-treasured post-Barney period.

Knotts did not chafe at being forever remembered as Barney Fife. He would go on to make 25 movies, appear on 20 TV series and make numerous appearances on the regional and dinner theater circuit, but he always had time for fans who he knew had really come to see Barney. He appeared at the annual Mayberry Days celebration in Mount Airy in 1995 and delighted a packed house with his storytelling and a one-man pantomime of a baseball game.

Don Knotts was not Barney Fife, nor was he any of the other characters he portrayed. He was a gentle, often shy man who never got far from his Morgantown, W.Va., roots. He was loyal to his friends from the Griffith show and was always ready to work when asked to appear on reunion shows and specials. He treated his adoring fans with patience, respect and true affection. There was always time for another picture or autograph. On Friday night, as he lay dying of lung cancer in California, one of his last visitors was Andy Griffith.

It was a miscommunication that took Barney Fife out of Mayberry and Knotts off "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1965. Griffith had expressed some reluctance to continue the show after the initial five-year run, so Knotts looked for other opportunities. He found them in quickie Disney movies, and by the time Griffith announced he would bring the show back, Knotts was contractually unable to continue the role that made him a legend. Nothing else he would ever do, including a long stint on "Three's Company" as swinger wannabe Mr. Furley, would equal the brilliance or have the staying power of that most unlikely small-town lawman.

Few actors have ever been more right for a part than Knotts as Barney Fife. Barney, as seen through the heart and mind of Knotts, was the everyman who lives inside us all. Oh, we may pretend we're cool, calm, collected and wise like Andy, but deep inside we know there is a nervous, unsure nerd who may often come up short, but never for lack of trying. Barney Fife often failed, but he always tried.

The Barney Fife who came from Knotts' mind and heart may not have been a great lawman, but no town ever had a better friend and no television fan a funnier performer to watch. Small-town North Carolina could not have had a better ambassador.

Andy said it often about Barney, and it rings as true about Knotts today as it did on the gentle streets of that sweet town: "You beat everything, you know that?"