Don Knotts' death is going to have a bigger impact than expected.

[Faygo Kid]

This may be locked. I don't care. This is one loss that hits home more than expected for the Boomers. A top-notch icon is gone; he nipped it in the bud. Not on the scale of Sinatra or Carson, perhaps, but it will be considerably bigger than expected for his Mr. Furley - Mr. Limpet efforts. Barney represented incompetence, but he also represented sincerity and caring. We could use more Barney Fifes and less Dick Cheneys today. Thanks, Don. And we can be thankful that he will always be with us, fumbling for his bullet, kissing Thelma Lou or scheming with Floyd or Gomer to get the bad guys.

[FreedomAngel82]

1. He's so great

:( Me and my Mom both loved and adored him (hey I'm a twenty-three year old and I love the older shows like "Andy Griffith" and "Three's Company"). If you haven't yet check this little skit movie out with him. It's so hilarious!

http://www.dubyamovie.com

[Frustratedlady]

9. The last segment of that piece is a classic.

If George doesn't quit screwing up, he may just end one of his speeches in that manner.

So long, Don. You will be missed.

[nuxvomica]

44. That's actually a fine tribute

Besides being a very funny and biting spoof. Thanks, I had never seen it.

[Mikimouse]

2. You're right about that...

I'm a boomer and I was just thinking about how we always used to laugh at him, but then, when the chips were down, we usually did exactly the same types of dumb things. He will be missed much more than some "big names" of the era.

[HardWorkingDem]

3. If they made movie, Steve Buscemi for Barney...who for Andy?

I have always thought they should make a movie of The Andy Griffith Show with Steve Buscemi as Barney Fife.

Who would be perfect for Andy, Gomer, Goober and the others? I've never thought of a suitable actor for Andy.

[Bunny]

4. Bill Paxton?

For Andy?

[HardWorkingDem]

7. Have you seen Paxton in "One False Move"?....

He was great.......

[Bunny]

15. No, I've only seen him in Twister. He seems to have the

right personality for the role of Andy. And BTW, I think Steve Buscemi is WAY too weird to be Barney, although there is a physical resemblance.

[HardWorkingDem]

39. If you like Paxton...

give that flick a try. Though be forwarned, it is violent, but he does a real good job playing a small town sheriff.

I've seen Buscemi in many roles and I think with his slouch and mannerisms he could get Barney down pat.

[Montauk6]

47. But how would they do a remake of an eponymous TV show?

Well... I guess they'd have to just call it Mayberry. Or Barney & Anj?

[welshTerrier2]

5. the nervous deputy low on self-confidence

i always liked the Barney Fife character ...

Knotts was also great in the movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken ...

atta boy, Luther ...

[Nabia2004]

13. Yes, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" - my favorite

funny movie, makes me laugh just thinking about it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Very underated

Maybe TCM will do a tribute.

[DanCa]

18. Tim Conway and Don Knotts were perhaps the greatest comedy duo ever.

I can't believe someone on DU remember the Ghost and Mr Chicken. Kudos. I will also say that Don Knotts was hilarious in the movie "Private Eyes" as well.

[DUgosh]

33. I've seen it... twice

:)

[Art_from_Ark]

34. My favorite part of the Ghost and Mr. Chicken

was the creepy organ music, especially at the end.

[WCGreen]

46. I saw that at the movies.....

Satyrday afternoon at the movies....

that organ music scared the shit out of me....

[FARAFIELD]

6. IM GETTING MY BULLET ANGE!!!!!

I get big laughs from the boomers that work for me when i reach into my shirt pocket and pull that stunt

[CrazyOrangeCat]

12. LOL !!!

My brother does that, too.

Ah, Barn, all of us bumbling, well-meaning, baby-boomer dweebs will miss you . . .

You were one of the really fun parts of growing up in the sixties.

:patriot:

[buddysmellgood]

8. I just this last summer bought the Andy Griffith show on DVD for my 8 and

10 year old boys. They watch those shows over and over. I have a soft spot for Knotts like I do Carson and Stewart.

[Faygo Kid]

19. I watched them at 10, too. And now I will turn 55.

The Andy Griffith Show debuted in September 1960. I turned 9 in September 1960. I later hit puberty on that show (well, Ellie Mae Clampett had something to do with that). I am so very happy your sons enjoy it. Please tell them that someday they will appreciate the impact it has on them, but for right now, enjoy it as it is.

[buddysmellgood]

25. Thanks. I let them know. They were sad to hear about Barney, then they

more or less shrugged and went off to practice piano and play game cube.

[Up2Late]

10. He was in one of my favorite "G" movies as a kid,"The Apple Dumpling Gang"

I never even heard of this one!

<?path=pgallery&path_key=Knotts,%20Don&seq=11>

More Images: Still photographs of "The Love God?"

[BringEmOn]

11. Now who are they going to send to investigate next time Cheney shoots

someone in the face?

[mtnsnake]

14. Andy Griffith Show was great, but Don Knotts is the #1 reason I watched it

He made my whole family laugh, and we really loved laughing. Knotts surely was an icon, almost to the point of being a hero, too.

BTW, I don't know why the thread should get locked, at least not too soon. Lots of people don't go to the Lounge all that often, and I wouldn't have known about his passing if I didn't see it here.

May he rest in peace.

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. darn, now who's going to play Bush in the new 911 movie?

:(

[senseandsensibility]

17. He was a comic genius in the same vein as Jerry Lewis

I will always remember his talent with fondness, but was he a Dem? I'm just curious. He's still great, no matter what. But I remember when it came out after Johnny Carson's death that he was a self described "flaming liberal." Wouldn't it be great if Don was too? RIP, Don Knotts.

[Faygo Kid]

21. Don was, too. And when Jerry dies, that also will be incredible.

I can't help but feel that when the Last Three Greats of the 30s and 40s - Olivia DeHavilland, Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple - leave us, there won't be the same outpouring, because they are of the GI Generation, and not Boomer icons. And the GI Generation is for all intents and purposes gone now.

[EFerrari]

20. A great talent that we were lucky to share for a minute.

Thank you, Don.

[Richard Steele]

22. I agree; he transcended boundaries like few others.

I can't think of ANYONE who was so popular
with myself, my parents, AND my grandparents...

They had Hee-Haw, I had the Dead Kennedys,
and we all loved Don Knotts.

He was the ONLY thing that made some of those Disney movies even remotely tolerable,
even when I was a kid I knew they were crap.
But as long as Mr. Knotts was on the screen, it was OK.


And, while some hardcore Knotts fans may flame me for this,
I just gotta say that I LOVED his "Mister Furley".
GENIUS, it was....

RIP Mr. Knotts!

[Richard D]

24. This is a shock for me

First thing I've heard about this.
I got to meet Don on a couple occasions. A very sweet man, not very different off screen than on screen. He will be missed.

[u2spirit]

26. Knotts passing is a Rovian ploy

to take the chimp out of the headlines.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

27. Did he ever make a BAD movie?

Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Reluctant Astronaut, Mr. Limpet. Even his final role in Pleasantville.

Did he ever make a bomb?

[Octafish]

28. The Reluctant Astronaut

http://www.interestingideas.com/ii/knotouv.htm

You're right, FaygoKid. We need more GOOD people. Like heroes, they always are in short supply.

[Vektor]

29. Awww. I loved him so...

Mr. Furley was one of may favorite characters ever.

RIP, Don.

[Obamanaut]

30. He was my favorite "man on the street" on Steve Allen show. n.t.

[Hissyspit]

31. $300 contribution to the Dem. National Committee in 2002:

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Don_Knotts.php

[AlinPA]

32. I loved him in "The Reluctant Astronaut". When he was showing his

hometown people around NASA as he was faking being an astronaut he was at his best.

[Gloria]

35. I watch so many of the Andy Griffith shows on TVLand...are they

still on? Don Knotts was so great as Barney--pathetic Barney, always trying to prove himself.

Godspeed, Don.

[RoyGBiv]

45. Yes ...

More than you want to know ... :-)

The Andy Griffith Show has been on the air continuously on some channel every day since the show ended. TVLand has, unfortunately, seemed to be trying to ween its viewers off it for some time now -- maybe not on one day, moving it around to weird time-slots, etc., and every time this is noticed, I and several hundred other people I know who belong to a TAGS fan club let them know our displeasure. If they can run their attempt at "original programming" repeatedly over and over and over again, they can find time for TAGS.

After this, they won't be able to do that for quite some time.

The first four seasons of the show have also finally been released on DVD, as in the original episodes with full epilogue, soundtrack, and even the "thanks to our sponsor" commercials as a DVD-extra. The commercials are interesting, I think. They came at the end of the show and always were scripted to relate to the story in the episode.

[Minstrel Boy]

36. A terrific essay on Knott's film work here:

http://www.interestingideas.com/ii/knotts.htm

...

In the handful of movies he made between 1964 and 1971, Knotts similarly was chained to cinematic conventions geared to the needs of kids. Still, in these films he is Don Knotts qua Don Knotts; something is going on other than the obvious goal of keeping the young ones giggling. Just below the surface, adult themes bubble in a stew of sexuality, egotism, heroism, greed, corruption and the pitfalls of modernity (seasoned with plenty of Knotts-induced laughter, of course.)
Don Knotts is The Love God

Going on also is a meditation on martyrdom that is at the heart of Knotts' best work. Everyone is a tormentor. Friends, strangers, co-workers, his true love: They tease him. They laugh at him. They pity him. They use him. They snub him. They ignore him. They patronize him. They spill food on him. Some even love him, even though it may be the last thing he wants, as in The Love God?

...

In the end, Knotts is the hero in all his films, but an ironic one. The same kind of happenstance that made him a pathetic nobody from birth is also the source of a heroism that arises only when it is absolutely essential--and accidental. This is both artistically fortunate and realistic. Heroism, after all, tends to come off as preposterous when it is not ironic, and it usually comes to people who have no intention of being heroes but are backed into a corner. If they thought through the consequences of their actions, their courage would evaporate, as Knotts' usually does before circumstances--and desperation--ultimately intervene to force him into acts of bravery.

...

However, incomprehension gives Knotts what virility provides others. It ultimately allows this painfully thin hayseed to stand up for himself in the face of odds that would send any sensible person scurrying. His weakness lets him triumph.

That makes Knotts one of the few leading men of his time who truly deserved to be called anti-hero. Nicholson, Hopper, Eastwood and the others may have abandoned the moral virtue once de rigueur in Hollywood protagonists, but they were cut from the same sexual cloth as Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, and the rest. Don Knotts, though, was everything these guys weren't. Terminally wimpy, ridiculously stupid and sexually repulsive, he was the true negation of the Hollywood he-man ethos.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

37. Sad. Bye Don Knots, may you RIP. Barney, Furley, and all the rest

as well.

[Cooley Hurd]

38. It's rare that I come across a thread on DU that makes me feel...

...a little less cynical. Thanks for that.:thumbsup:

K&R.

[Catherine Vincent]

40. Heartwarming ode to Knotts.

Good job. :-)

[kevinbgoode]

41. He was amazing. . .

and he always made Andy seem like such a Man. . .
But Don always played the kind of guy that you'd love having around - you got the feeling when he was acting that he just came alive into the part, even if it was a role that was his trademark. We are lucky to have people like this pass through our lives...one thing about a celebrity. . .they never know just how many lives they've touched and live on in memories. I sometimes just marvel at the presence of someone who can do that with millions and millions of people.

[EstimatedProphet]

42. Ever see his standup?

I remember seeing him do standup on a variety show when I was a kid. From what I remember he was quite funny.

[Greylyn58]

43. Rest In Peace Don

Thank you for the many laughs you've given me over the years. Thank you for all the fond memories.

You will be sorely missed! :cry: