Don Knotts, who won five Emmys for his portrayal of fumbling deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show — and also is well remembered for playing Three's Company's hideously clad "lady killer" landlord, Mr. Furley — died Friday of pulmonary and respiratory complications. He was 81. "Don was a small man... but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Andy Griffith tells the Associated Press. "Don was special. There's nobody like him." Knotts' half-century career also included the late-'50s variety show The Steve Allen Show (on which he was an original cast member) and such films as The Incredible Mr. Limpet and 1998's Pleasantville.
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Question: I could swear Andy Taylor was a jack-of-all-trades and had several jobs on The Andy Griffith Show, but a coworker says I'm nuts and that he was always just the sheriff. Who's right? There's no bet riding on this, just pride. Thanks.
Answer: You've got a respectable memory there, Jim. (Don't get any ideas, though — there's only room for one Televisionary in this town.) Feel free to claim a good chunk of your office mate's pride because you're right on this one.
When The Andy Griffith Show first launched as a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show and began its eight-year run on CBS in October 1960, Sheriff Andy Taylor (Matlock's Andy Griffith) not only enforced the law in Mayberry while raising you
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