Ted Knight
Forest Lawn Glendale
Ted Knight -- six-time
Emmy nominee and two-time winner -- was best known as pompous, inept
television news anchor Ted Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show,"
which ran from 1970 to 1977. The last episode of the series featured
new management taking over the fictional television station, and
firing everyone but Baxter.
Knight made his film debut in a brief, non-speaking
role as a prison guard in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960). Knight
appeared in small, often uncredited roles in several films during the
1960s, including "Two Rode Together" (1961), "Swingin' Along" (1961),
"The Candidate" (1964), "Blindfold" (1965) and "Countdown" (1968).
Knight also made guest appearances in dozens of television series
in the 1960s, including "The Wild, Wild West," "Bonanza," "The Virginian,"
"Combat!," "The Invaders," "Outer Limits," "The Twilight Zone," "Get
Smart," "The Fugutive," "The F.B.I.," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and "Gunsmoke."
In 1970, Knight was cast as Ted Baxter, the news anchor
for fictional television station WJM-TV in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Knight was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a
Comedy Series each year from 1972 through 1977, winning in 1973 and
1976. After the series ended, Knight appeared in the short-lived
television series, "The Ted Knight Show" in 1978, then starred as
cartoonist Henry Rush in "Too Close for Comfort" from 1980 to 1985.
Knight also appeared as Judge Smails in "Caddyshack" (1980).
As Ted Baxter, one of Knight's popular phrases was
a blustery "Hi, guys" whenever he entered a room. His grave marker
includes the phrase, "Bye, guy." Knight's grave marker also includes
the theatrical masks of comedy and tragedy.
Knight was born Thaddeus Wladyslaw Konopka on Dec. 7,
1923, in Terryville, CT. He died on Aug. 26, 1986, in Los Angeles, CA.
1923 - 1986
Back to biographies page