An unfinished statue of Barney Fife apparently won’t be heading to Don Knotts’ hometown after all. Knotts’ widow endorses a statue but says the monument should be of her husband, not of the bumbling deputy he made famous on "The Andy Griffith Show." Knotts died in February at age 81."We consider the dissemination of his image to be a big responsibility that we take very seriously," Francey Knotts and Andy Griffith said in a statement. "No one cares more about Don’s image than we do. It would be wonderful to have a statue in Morgantown, W.Va., of Don Knotts as Don Knotts."But this particular image does not fit with our understanding of Don’s experience growing up in Morgantown."Efforts to get a Fife statue in Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., which was used as the model for the fictional town of Mayberry, have been unsuccessful.Mount Airy resident Tom Hellebrand commissioned the Fife statue after Knotts’ death. The work was halted after Paramount/CBS, which owns the rights to the television show, withdrew its permission. The company said it didn’t have the authority to grant permission for a likeness of Knotts.Hellebrand then offered the half-finished work to anyone who could obtain permission from the company, the Knotts family and Griffith. Mount Airy already has a statue of Griffith in character as Sheriff Andy Taylor walking with his son, Opie, who was played by Ron Howard.Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice said any monument to Knotts should be in Morgantown and reflect Knotts’ accomplishments."We certainly want to portray Don Knotts in the very best image as we know him in Morgantown," he said.
CBS News
I guess Mr. Furley is out too?
