BARNEY FIFE FACES

 

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From my way of thinking, the greatest TV supporting actors of all time were Katherine MacGregor and Don Knotts. (I say "were" as they have both gone on to their reward now).

Speaking of Katherine MacGregor, ("Mrs. Oleson" of "Little House on the Prairie") ten or twelve years ago I decided to attempt to get in touch with her. Finding her mailing address on her TV daughter "Nellie's" website, I wrote Ms. MacGregor asking for an autograph. 

I got much more than an autograph. She mailed me a postcard with a couple of paragraphs of verbiage, and a caricature which she drew of herself. From there, Katherine and I developed a short term pen pal relationship, and exchanged four or five letters.

"Mrs. Oleson" was the queen of faces and emotions. 

Who can forget her antics? Her leering laughter. Her disapproving scowls. Her "my way or the highway" personality. Her gossipy busy body attitude.

Then, there was "Barney Fife" of "The Andy Griffith Show," portrayed by the actor Don Knotts. 

What an amazing actor. If Katherine MacGregor was the queen of faces and emotions, Don Knotts was the king. 

The way he twisted his features into the biggest, self-assured grin, or an outrageous, "are you serious" grimace. His "official" voice when he attempted to explain something to a person whom he considered a subordinate. 

It seems Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were the best of friends on and off the show. In a TV interview, after Mr. Knotts' death, Griffith recounted a conversation he'd had with him, as he lay dying.

"C'mon Jesse (his first name, and the name that Andy used), you can beat this. Stay with us."

Sadly, Mr. Knotts passed away soon thereafter.

One of the things I have heard about Don Knotts, which I personally found most interesting, was a story his daughter shared about him.

"My dad was a consummate actor. He was a perfectionist. He would go into his bedroom, and lock the door. And he would spend hours preparing for his scenes. Daddy would practice those grins, and frowns, and exasperated responses in the mirror; 'til he was absolutely satisfied, and only then he would come out of his room."

"For my money," Don and Katherine were the King and Queen of television's supporting actors.

by Bill McDonald, PhD