The Real Reason Don Knotts Left ‘The Andy Griffith Show’
Don Knotts will forever be remembered as the jittery, big-hearted Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. His nervous energy and perfect comic timing turned Mayberry into more than just a sleepy small town. Which is why fans were shocked when Knotts left the show after the fifth season in 1965. Rumors swirled for years about why he walked away, but the truth, as Knotts later explained, was simpler and a little bittersweet.
Knotts believed The Andy Griffith Show was only meant to last five years. In interviews, he said that he had been told the series would wrap up after Season 5, and he planned his career around that ending. Knotts explained, according to MeTV, “I began pursuing other opportunities, and by the time Andy had decided to continue the series, I had signed with Universal Studios to do some movies. If I had known that Andy intended to go on with it, of course I would’ve stayed.”
Bruce McBroom/TV Guide/Everett Collection
That decision meant Knotts committed himself to a movie contract with Universal, where he went on to star in films like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Reluctant Astronaut. Once the contract was in place, there was no easy way to step back into Mayberry full-time, even though Griffith had changed his mind and decided to keep the show going past five seasons. Knotts called it more of a misunderstanding than anything else, but the result was that Barney Fife was no longer a series regular.
Even so, Knotts never fully left Mayberry behind. He returned for guest appearances in later seasons, and his friendship with Andy Griffith endured long after the show’s run. Looking back, Knotts admitted that if he had known the show would continue, he would have happily stayed on. But in the end, his decision led to a successful film career and allowed him to expand his talents beyond television.
Do you wish he could have stayed on the series?
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September 2020
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