Don Knotts, star of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' dead at 81 - Los Angeles Times: "Don Knotts, the saucer-eyed, scarecrow-thin comic actor best known for his roles as the high-strung small-town deputy Barney Fife on the 1960s CBS series 'The Andy Griffith Show' and the leisure-suit-clad landlord Ralph Furley on ABC's '70s sitcom 'Three's Company,' has died. He was 81."