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| Ted Knight | |||||||
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| Born | Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka December 7, 1923 Terryville, Connecticut, USA |
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| Died | August 26, 1986 (aged 62) Glendale, California, USA |
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| Years active | 1950s-1986 | ||||||
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy Smith (1948-1986) | ||||||
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Ted Knight (December 7, 1923 – August 26, 1986) was an American actor best known for playing the comedic role of Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Henry Rush on Too Close for Comfort, and Judge Smails in Caddyshack. Ted Knight has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television, at 6673 Hollywood Boulevard.
Biography
Early years
Born Tadeusz Władysław Konopka to a Polish American family in Terryville, Connecticut, Knight dropped out of high school to enlist for military service in World War II, earning five battle stars while serving in the European Theatre.[1]
In 1948, he married Dorothy Smith, and eventually had three children, Ted Knight. Jr., Elyse, and Eric.
Career
During the postwar years, Knight studied acting in Hartford, Connecticut. He became proficient with puppets and ventriloquism, which led to steady work as a television kiddie-show host. In 1955, he left Hartford for Albany, New York where he landed a job at station WROW-TV (now WTEN), hosting "The Early Show" featuring MGM movies and a kids variety show playing a "Gabby Hayes" type character named "Windy Knight". He was also a radio announcer for sister station WROW radio. He left the station in 1957 after receiving advice from station manager (and future Capital Cities Chairman) Thomas S. Murphy that he should take his talents to Hollywood. Knight spent most of the 1950s and 1960s doing commercial voice-overs and essaying minor television and movie roles (he was the nonspeaking cop who was guarding Norman Bates at the end of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). In the 1962-1963 season, he appeared as "Haskell" in the short-lived drama and situation comedy The New Loretta Young Show on CBS. Knight's distinctive speaking voice brought him work as an announcer — he narrated several animated television series including Super Friends — and he appeared frequently in television shows such as The Eleventh Hour, Bonanza, The Man and the Challenge, Combat!, Get Smart, The Twilight Zone,The Wild Wild West and The Love Boat. (In one Love Boat episode, he guest starred as a rival cruise captain opposite Mary Tyler Moore co-star Gavin MacLeod.)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
His role as the vain and untalented newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought Knight widespread recognition, and his greatest success. He received six Emmy Award nominations for the role, winning the Emmy for "Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy", in 1973 and 1976.
Many fans often assumed Knight was like the Ted Baxter character in real life, causing him occasional problems, and great heartache. In 1975, he approached The Mary Tyler Moore Show Producer David Davis and Director Jay Sandrich in tears asking to be removed from the show due to the often negative effect that this was having on his wife and children. He was, in fact, an intelligent actor who worried that he was trapped in the character, and would be forever typecast. James L. Brooks brought in Georgia Engel and Robbie Rist to develop the character's softer side. Knight was typecast to a degree, although his character on Too Close for Comfort endeared him to a whole new audience of television viewers.
Ted Knight was a social conservative who often disagreed with former co-star Ed Asner. While the two were political opposites, they remained friends throughout their association. Coincidentally, both Knight and Asner had played villains on episodes of The Wild Wild West.
Caddyshack and Too Close for Comfort
After Mary Tyler Moore finished its seven-season run, Knight appeared in the film Caddyshack as bigoted, overbearing Judge Elihu Smails (1980), and played the lead role as the kind, curmudgeonly cartoonist Henry Rush in the series Too Close for Comfort from 1980-1986, penning the fictional comic strip "Cosmic Cow".
Super Friends
The commanding voice of the narrator of Super Friends was provided by Ted Knight during the early hour-long episodes. His signature line was, "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice ..." William Woodson took over once they dropped the original format.
Death
A few months after the end of the Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, he was diagnosed with cancer for which he received various forms of treatment over several years. In 1985, he was diagnosed with colon cancer which, despite rigorous treatment, eventually began to spread to his bladder and throughout his lower gastrointestinal tract. He died on August 26, 1986, from complications due to surgery. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His grave marker bears the name Theodore C. Konopka.
See also
References
- ^ Paradis, John (1986-08-27). "Terryville Recalls Favorite Son Fondly". The Bristol Press.
External links
- Ted Knight at Find A Grave
- Ted Knight at the Internet Movie Database
- A fan site with many photos, press clippings, and information on his 1976 comedy album 'Hi Guys'
- Interview with Lydia Cornell by Michael Sutton
- Interview with Lydia Cornell on the podcast The Future And You (anecdotes about Ted Knight and Too Close For Comfort)
- Link to the home page of the Ted Knight Memorial 'Gof' Tournament - An Australian golf tournament held annually (now in its 23rd year) in honour of Ted.
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