FALLEN FUNNYMAN REMEMBERED
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.