The Andy Griffith Show’s deputy sheriff Barney Fife and the late 1970s television sitcom Three’s Company’s landlord “Ralph Furley” are where Don Knotts made his most recognizable acting appearances.
We all laughed a lot throughout the years thanks to the late comedy icon, who is remembered as one of the best and a true gift to humanity. He’s one of the funniest performers I’ve ever seen, and I still enjoy laughing at his astonished look.
Following his break with The Andy Griffith Show, Don became one of the most well-known performers in the US. However, he had always been secretive about his personal life. Before his tragic demise in 2006, many of his secrets remained unknown.
Don Knotts grew up in relative obscurity after moving to Morgantown, West Virginia, where he was born in 1924. His father was a farmer and his mother was nearly 40 years old when Don was born.
He had a challenging early life. Just before Don was born, Don’s father experienced a nervous breakdown due to mental illness. He was also a violent individual who supposedly once pursued his son with a knife.
Naturally, these horrifying events had an effect on young Don, who became somewhat introverted and alert to outside threats. Don’s personality traits persisted throughout his life, despite the fact that while he was performing on stage, people thought he was someone altogether different.
Don also had four brothers, but tragically, two of them died quite young. His oldest sibling, Earl, passed away when he was just 13 years old. At the time Earl had pneumonia, pneumonia was a fatal infection that routinely took the lives of its victims before medicines became widely used. Another of Don’s brothers, William, passed away at the age of 31.
