Just like you prefer some jobs over others when you look back on your career, actors, too, have their favorite roles, films, and television series that they’ve worked on. Don Knotts, whose comedy career spans across generations, was talented enough to have his fair share of favorites.
Just like everyone in the world had their favorite Don Knotts role, so did Knotts himself know which characters he liked better than others.
Here’s a hint: It’s not that shocking.
An article in the Bristol Herald Courier covered a talk Knotts gave at the East Tennessee State University. In addition to revisiting a few scenes from his previous roles and entertaining the audience with a bit of sketch comedy, Knotts was also gracious enough to answer a few questions from audience members about his career.
One of these questions was about whether he liked playing the role of Ralph Furley of Three’s Company, a character Knotts popularized in the late seventies into the early eighties.
Knotts confessed, “Not as much as I liked doing Andy.” He reasoned, “The new show was just too fast for me.”
The actor also spoke highly of the series when discussing his favorite scene as Barney Fife. He said, “It was the scene when Barney was going out the door with a suitcase full of pickles, trying to explain what he was doing.” It was a scene that wasn’t necessarily intended to be comedic but, like most scenes on The Andy Griffith Show, ended with thunderous laughter.
He continued, “We didn’t expect it to be anything, but it became a very funny scene.”
