1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: Man, don't you sometimes just want to escape the upset, violence, 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: political bs and the stress that seems to be a 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: part of our everyday lives. Not to mention, of course, 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: the theme of most every TV and movie we watch. 5 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: A lot of us do like to go back and 6 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: binge some of the shows our parents and grandparents watched 7 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: where everything seems so calm and happy. But surprisingly, some 8 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: of the biggest stars of the good Old Days had 9 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: stress in their lives as well. I'm Patty Steele The 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: Painful Life of Barney Fife. Next on the Backstory, The 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: Backstory is back. I don't know about you, but sometimes 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: I just get tired of the end of the world dystopian, 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: violent nature of the stuff we stream on TV. Right 14 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: I just want to laugh at the goofiness and smile 15 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: at the sweetness of life. On TV of the mid 16 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: twentieth century, one of the biggest shows was The Andy 17 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: Griffith's Show, still huge in syndication. In its eight years 18 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: on TV, show was never lower than number seven in 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: the yearly ratings, and it was number one for its 20 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: last season. The only other shows to call it quits 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: while they were number one. I Love Lucy and Seinfeld now. 22 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: One of the reasons the show was such a huge 23 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: hit was the relationship between its biggest stars, Andy Griffith, 24 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: who played Sheriff Andy Taylor, and his deputy Barney Fife, 25 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: played by Don Knotts. The support and kindness between the 26 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: two was actually a reflection of their decades long friendship. 27 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: Griffith understood that he needed to be the straight man 28 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: to Knots goofball, and they supported each other in that dynamic. 29 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: But based on knotts past, it couldn't have been easy. 30 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: Don Knots was born in nineteen twenty four in the 31 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: small Appalachian town of Morgantown, West Virginia. It was a 32 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: typical American small town, but inside the Notts household it 33 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: was anything but. His dad, William Knots, was a struggling 34 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: farmer who suffered from severe mental illness and alcoholism. It 35 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: was miserable, and as Don grew up, his dad became 36 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: even more unstable. He was often violent and sometimes completely 37 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: detached from reality. At one point, the family said William 38 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: thought he was being chased by invisible enemies. He'd barricade 39 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: doors or wander the streets. Totally paranoiac for a little boy, 40 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: home just didn't feel safe. Don once said he almost 41 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: never spoke to his dad, and he avoided him whenever 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 1: he could. Eventually, his father was committed to a metal hospital. 43 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: He later died there when Don was still just a teenager, 44 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: but the damage of growing up around constant fear had 45 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,239 Speaker 1: impacted him. On top of all that, the family was poor, 46 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: I mean really poor. Don's mom ran a boarding house 47 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: to survive, rending out rooms to strangers passing through town. 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: The house was always filled with unfamiliar adults coming and going. 49 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: For a shy, anxious kid, it was pretty overwhelming. Don 50 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,239 Speaker 1: was small for his age, painfully skinny, and often sick. 51 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: Other kids teased him. Instead of playing sports or joining groups, 52 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: he spent most of his time alone. But this is 53 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: actually where he found his salvation. Isolation created something else 54 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: for him, imagination, and that imagination would become his escape 55 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: to cope with all the chaos in his life. Don 56 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: started doing impressions. He mimicked neighbors, teachers, and even the 57 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: strange guests who stayed at his mom's boarding house, and 58 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: in doing that he found something powerful. When people laughed, 59 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: his tension disappeared. For Don, laughter created safety by high school, 60 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: he had developed a character he called Windy Knots. It 61 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: was a ventriloquist act where he pretended to talk to 62 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: himself nervous, frantic, and totally awkward, and it was hilarious. 63 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: That nervous jittery style would later morph into the signature 64 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: comedy America fell in love with, But at the time 65 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: it was just a small, shy kid figuring out how 66 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: to survive. After graduating from high school, it was World 67 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: War Two and Don enlisted in the military. Of course, 68 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: the army didn't really know what to do with him. 69 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: At first. He wasn't physically strong, and he struggled with 70 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: some of the intense training. But eventually the powers that 71 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: be realized something about Don he could entertain. He was 72 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: placed in a gi variety show troupe, traveling to perform 73 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: comedy for American soldiers stationed overseas. For the first time 74 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: in his life, he was entertaining massive crowds, and they 75 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: loved him. His nervous energy, the same trait that used 76 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: to make him feel weak, became his greatest strength on stage. 77 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: It was his signature bit. After the war, Don moved 78 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: to New York City to pursue comedy not surprisingly, it 79 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: was brutal at first, tiny clubs, radio gigs, endless auditions, 80 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: but his unique style slowly got attention. By the early 81 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, he landed the role that would define his career, 82 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. Starring alongside 83 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: Andy Griffith. Barney Fife was anxious, insecure, high strung, and 84 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: absolutely hilarious, just like Don in real life. The character 85 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: felt real because it was rooted in the nervous kid 86 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: Don had always been. Audiences couldn't get enough of him. 87 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: He won five Emmy Awards, becoming one of TV's greatest 88 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: comedic actors. What's interesting is people who knew Don knots 89 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: often said something you wouldn't expect off screen. He was 90 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: still shy, still nervous, still holding on to traces of 91 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: that lonely little boy from Morgantown. For Don, comedy had 92 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: never been about fame. It had always been about survival, 93 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: about turning fear into laughter. Over the decades, he was 94 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: in dozens of films like the Disney comedy The Incredible 95 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: Mister Limpet and TV shows including Three's Company huge hit there, 96 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: but Barney Fife was the role everybody loved the most, 97 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: the goofy deputy who somehow always made everybody feel better, 98 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: and that could be why audiences connected with him so deeply, 99 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,919 Speaker 1: because behind the goofiness and the laughs was something genuine. 100 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: A kid who grew up scared, awkward and unsure of himself, 101 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,919 Speaker 1: but discovered that laughter could transform everything. In the little 102 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: town of Morgantown, West Virginia, a lonely little boy had 103 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: learned to make people laugh just to feel safe, and 104 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: decades later he would use that to become one of 105 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: the most unforgettable characters in TV history. Don Nott says 106 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: Barney five was America's favorite deputy, and every laugh carried 107 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: a piece of that insecure little boy. I hope you're 108 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review 109 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: and follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes 110 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: delivered automatically. Also feel free to DM me if you 111 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, 112 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm 113 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 114 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 115 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser, our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 116 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 117 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 118 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 119 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 120 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.