Don Knotts: 1924 - 2006

Away from the bright lights of the soundstage, away from the inquisitive eyes of the adoring fans, a young Don Knotts would indulge the part of him that was considerably less wholesome than Aunt Bea's apple pie or Opie's lemonade, wantonly careening head-first into a sordid netherworld of sin and debauchery so foul and corrupt that one's mind could scarcely begin to grapple with its stomach-turning intensity. Here Knotts would lose himself in the dark impulses and grotesque proclivities of a total sociopathic monster - a monster he was somehow able to keep chained up for years in a filthy, shadowy dungeon deep within the hidden recesses of his horribly mangled psyche. Only later in his searing portrayal of the demented, sex-crazed landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company" would audiences catch a frightening peek behind the facade.

Comments

[Kamala]

Nice! It does look like what I always imagined Mr. Furley doing in his private time. I miss Mr. Furley, that cute old bug eyed sleazebag!

[Doris Karloff]

Is that a true story?

[Rod]

True story. I read all about it in Tim Conway's scorching book, "Funny As Hell - My Journey Through the Festering Bowels of Comedy" (Doubleday). He has some absolutely hair-raising stories about Knotts, Larry Storch, Phil Silvers, Harvey Korman, Charles Nelson Reilly, and of course, Andy Griffith. Harsh stuff.