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I was saddened to hear of Don Knotts passing last Friday. At a young age I was particularly fond of his spooky comedy “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.” That film has an incredibly simple premise, but Knott’s performance really carried the concept through. A few years later, “The New Scooby Doo Movies” played homage to “GAMC” by inviting Knotts as an animated guest star ~ twice!

Knotts continued to entertain me when he did a series of films for Disney in the 70’s, the most impressive being “The Apple Dumpling Gang.” There is a sequence where he and Tim Conway attempt to steal a long ladder from a short firehouse that I find hilarious. I also enjoyed him in “Hot Lead and Cold Feet” as well as “No Deposit, No Return,” where he plays a slightly more mature character (bizarre that his costar from that movie of 30 years ago, Darren McGavin, followed Knotts in death by one day).

So a few years ago I obtained a copy of his autobiography “Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known” and become much more knowledgable about the career of Don Knotts. He was the youngest of four boys, and grew up with a sickly, bedridden father. His mother had to keep things together by turning their home into a boarding house. His brother Shadow was the jokester of the family, keeping everyone laughing. But Shadow died of a severe asthma attack one night while Don was ushering at the local movie theater.

By that time Don Knotts was already an amatuer magician. From there he went on to develop a ventriloquist act, which got him into a special entertainment troop through World War II. Upon returning, his career went through a number of successful runs in different performance arenas: old time radio, broadway, and of course television with a long run on “The New Steve Allen Show” and then “The Andy Griffith Show.” He quit that to do his memorable run of films with Universal Studios, starting of course with “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.” That was of course followed by the Disney films and then back to TV with “Three’s Company” and then back with Andy Griffith on TV on “Matlock.” Don Knotts never retired and has credits into the 21st century.

It’s funny that his last film was also a chicken film, his voice work for “Chicken Little.” I’m glad to see that Disney tried to utilize his talents to the end. At one point he was listed in the pre-production cast for “The Haunted Mansion,” but his name was removed before filming (probably a bit much for a 77-year old at the time). But he would have been perfect as the knee-shaking groundskeeper we see at the entrance to the graveyard.

I fear that many took Don Knotts for granted, but sit down and watch some of his work. One great source is the low-priced DVD box set “The Don Knotts Collection.” You’ll find that this great comedian was really, really funny.