Background
Knight studied acting in Hartford, Connecticut. He became proficient with puppets and ventriloquism, which led to steady work as a TV kiddie-show host. Knight spent most of the 1950s and 1960s doing commercial voiceovers and essaying minor TV and movie roles (he was the nonspeaking cop, who handed Norman Bates a robe at the end of Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Just barely making ends meet with TV guest spots and cartoon voices, Knight was rescued professionally in 1970, when he was cast in the role of TV anchorman, Ted Baxter, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show on TV. He also played Henry Rush in Too Close for Comfort and played Judge Elihu Smails in Caddyshack.
Early Life
Tadeusz (Ted) Wladyslaw Konopka was born to a Polish-American family in the Terryville section of Plymouth in Litchfield County, Connecticut on December 7, 1923. Pearl Harbor Day coincided with his 18th birthday, and Ted dropped out of high school to sign up with the Army. He became a decorated member of the A Company, 296th Combat Engineer Battalion. He served with distinction in the European Theater of Operations, earning five battle stars.
Career
He started his career in television at station WTEN in Albany, New York. His voiceover talents were used on the “Superman” and “Star Trek” cartoons of the 1960s. His credits include The Fugitive, The FBI, Bonanza, Combat, and The Twilight Zone. His films include Twelve Hours to Kill (1960), The Candidate (1964), The Young Dillinger (1965), Countdown (1968), and Caddyshack (1980). Ted also made a record in 1975, “Hi Guys”, which featured Ted Knight and the Poops in a collection of Daffy Songs, including such zingers as “Itsy, Bitsy, Teeny, Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”, “Male Chauvinist Pig”, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly up your Nose”, “Chick-a-Boom”, and “I’m in Love with Barbara Walters”.
In the 1962, 1963 season, he appeared as “Haskell” in the short-lived drama and situation comedy, The Loretta Young Show on CBS. He played Phil Sterling on the ABC Soap Opera, The Young Marrieds, in the early 1960s. He appeared frequently in television shows such as The Invaders, Highway Patrol, How to Marry a Millionaire, Peter Gunn, Bourbon Street Beat, The Donna Reed Show, Pete and Gladys, The Eleventh Hour, Bonanza, The Man and the Challenge, McHale’s Navy, Get Smart, Gunsmoke and the Wild, Wild West.
His final movie role was in the golf comedy, Caddyshack, where he played a judge fed up with the shenanigans of a guest, Rodney Dangerfield, at the golf club.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
In 1970 he had a breakthrough moment in his career by being named to play Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler More Show. 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. Ted was on the show from 1970 to 1977. Knight quickly became one of the most entertaining and beloved television characters of the 1970s and remains popular to this day.
It was October, 1975, when the episode titled “Chuckles Bites the Dust” debuted. It was ranked as the third-greatest TV episode of all-time by TV Guide. “Chuckles Bites the Dust” centers around the improbable circumstances of a clown’s demise. The results are hilarious. Shortly after the series ended in 1977, Ted Knight was diagnosed with cancer and underwent several years of therapy.
Too Close for Comfort
Knight went on to more sitcom success in 1980 with the popular TV series Too Close for Comport. Knight played the kind, cartoonist Henry Rush. During scenes in which Henry draws in his bedroom, Knight used his earlier acquired ventriloquism talents for comical conversations with a hand-puppet version of his comic book’s main character “cosmic cow”. Throughout the run of the series, Knight would wear sweatshirts from various colleges and universities, which were often sent to him by students, who were fans of the show.
The Ted Knight Show (1978 TV Series)
The Ted Knight Show was Ted Knight’s first attempt at starring in a show of his own. A disappointment, The Ted Knight Show drew low ratings and was cancelled after only six weeks on the air. Knight would go on to much greater success in the 1980s in his starring role in the situation Too Close for Comfort – itself retitled The Ted Knight Show in its final season.
Personal Life
In 1948 he married Dorothy Smith and the couple had three children—Ted, Jr., Elyse, and Eric. In January, 1985 Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.
Death
In 1985 Ted’s cancer returned as colon cancer, which, despite rigorous treatment, eventually began to spread to his bladder and throughout his lower gastrointestinal tract. Knight continued to work, however, even having surgery to remove a tumor from his urinary tract. However, he experienced complications from the surgery and was advised not to resume work on Too Close for Comfort until he recovered. Knight’s condition only worsened, however, and he died on August 26, 1986 at the age of 62. Ted Knight was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His grave marker bears the name Theodore C. Konopka (and at the bottom, the words “Bye Guy”, a reference to his Ted Baxter catch phrase, “Hi Guy”!). His gravestone reads: Dearly beloved by his wife Dorothy, his children Ted, Elyse, and Eric, his sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, his admiring peers and his millions of adoring fans. Shortly after Knight’s death, the Town of Terryville renamed a bridge across the Pequabuck River in his honor. It is called the “Ted Knight Memorial Bridge” and is located close to his former neighborhood. Ted Knight’s most well-known movie role was in the 1980 comedy hit Caddyshack with Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase. Knight was also an accomplished ventriloquist.
Ghost of Ted Knight
The ghost of Ted Knight won’t stop haunting South Florida golf courses. Grande Oaks Golf Club, where the motion picture Caddyshack was shot in the fall of 1979, is one of many South Florida golf courses where reports of disturbing encounters with the dead character actor, Ted Knight, continue to surface. Lately the paranormal events have become more frequent and unsettling. Cy Flanders, a member for over twenty years at Twin Oaks Golf Club in Cooper City said that he was enjoying a pleasant twilight round of golf with friends, Chip Colson, Harry Peters and Al Sobeck. As dusk was approaching, the foursome was ready to hit off on the eighteenth tee, when an unusually chilling breeze got their attention. “We were surprised how cold it felt”, said Flanders. “What happened next was a glowing apparition appeared…it looked just like Ted Knight from Caddyshack. None of us felt much like hitting after that. Both carts blazed a trail to the clubhouse. When we got there, the clubhouse pro said that we’d all looked like we’d seen a ghost! I guess we did!”
References:
1. Ted Knight—Biography—IMDB
2. Remembering Connecticut’s Ted Knight of “Mary Tyler Moore Show”
3. Ted Knight Biography (Actor)
4. Ted knight—About this Person—Movies, TV—New York Times.com
5. Ted Knight.Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
6. The Ted Knight Show (1978 TV Series)
7. Ted Knight (1923-1986) Find a Grave Memorial
8. Sportsman’s Daily—Ghost of Ted Knight Won’t Stop Haunting South Florida Golf Courses
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