TV's Don Knotts Dies

February 26, 2006

To the end, Don Knotts and Andy Griffith were a team.

Knotts, the jittery Deputy Barney Fife to Griffith's imminently calm Sheriff Taylor for five Emmy-winning seasons on "The Andy Griffith Show," died of lung cancer Friday in Los Angeles. The iconic comic actor was said to have been surrounded by family and a pair of friends--Griffith and his wife.

Knotts was 81.

The announcement of Knotts' passing was made, appropriately enough, by TV Land, the cable network specializing in shows, such as "Andy Griffith," that bear up to repeated viewing.