NPR.org, February 25, 2006 · LOS ANGELES (AP) — Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, has died. He was 81.
Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs The Andy Griffith Show and another Knotts hit, Three’s Company.
(Here’s my post on “Barney & Thelma Lou” from last November 27, including my song about their romance, Thelma Lou.)
Here’s a version of the song I recorded just this morning: