When Don Knotts passed, I went through my website salting a few links to an obituary on some of my more popular pages. For whatever reasons, I've had thousands of people coming to an essay from last year about a church in Ohio that was advertising with signs saying "God loves ugly people." Obviously, it occurred to me that Don Knotts would likely have been considered, shall we say, homely.
But no, that's not right at all. It's not just that you wouldn't speak ill of such a beloved figure. In fact, Don Knotts is beautiful.
beautiful 1) Having qualities that delight the senses, especially the sense of sight. 2) Excellent; wonderful.
Granted, Don Knotts wasn't particularly sexy — but sexy ain't everything. Brad Pitt has better cheekbones or bigger muscles or something, but he's boring. That's nothing against Mr. Pitt. I'm sure he's a fine gentleman and all, but which face will be remembered 100 years from now? There's a new crop of pretty boys every year.
Barney Fife was a really exceptional literary creation. As a kind of holy fool, the Barney Fife character will be remembered probably as well as, say, Don Quixote. Don Knotts certainly benefited from some of the most excellent writing in television history.
But the specific physicality and animating spirit of Don Knotts has a lot to do with the lasting literary impression that Barney Fife has made. Joining the Andy Griffith Show in its genesis, the Barney Fife character was created specifically for Don Knotts. No other actor could have done anything close to what he did.
You could say simply that he was a good actor — though at that, you'd have to say that he had a limited range. He was certainly no leading man. Nor was he a man of a thousand faces. He had one, very highly unique, identifiable and pliable face.
But within a certain range, he could work up a unique and profound pathos.
Article comments
1 - Cindylover1969
"...you could study on Don Knotts for awhile."
No, I couldn't.