> At a Glance
> – Karen and Thomas Knotts grew up in Glendale as the children of Don Knotts, TV’s Barney Fife
> – Karen, now 71, became a comedian and wrote the memoir Tied Up in Knotts; Thomas, 68, is an electrical engineer
> – Why it matters: Their stories reveal the private man behind the on-screen goof-loving, witty, and quietly battling depression
Karen and Thomas Knotts remember their dad as the funniest guy in the room-even when lung cancer claimed him at 81. “He had this funniness that was just completely, insanely natural,” Karen told News Of Los Angeles. “Even when he was dying, he was making us laugh in hysterics.”
Growing Up Knotts
The siblings spent their early years in a Mayberry-like pocket of Los Angeles where neighbors knew them simply as “Don’s kids.” Karen, born April 1, 1954, and Thomas, born February 1957, tagged along to sets and once appeared as extras in The Shakiest Gun in the West.
- Karen later joked she moonlighted as a “mini shrink,” cheering up her father during bouts of depression
- Thomas told his sister that being the son of a star felt “traumatic” in his engineering circles; colleagues might take him “less seriously”
Karen’s Show-Biz Rebellion
Don initially nixed the idea of his daughter acting. “He knew a lot of people that were trying to make it in the business and just failed,” Karen recalled to News Of Los Angeles. Still, at 16 she joined her dad’s variety-show sketches. By 1986 she was cast as Opie’s receptionist in the TV reunion movie Return to Mayberry.
After Don’s death in 2006, Karen debuted her one-woman show Tied Up In Knotts and later published a memoir of the same name. “I try to capture the essence of Don, the man,” she wrote on her website, “because I always thought he was the funniest when he was just being himself.”
Thomas Takes A Different Path
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a master’s from UC Berkeley before building a career as an electrical engineer. He and wife Cathy welcomed a son in 1993, making Don a first-time grandfather.
Key Takeaways
- Karen and Thomas Knotts say their father’s humor never quit, even in his final days
- Karen fought for-and won-permission to enter show business, later memorializing her dad on stage and in print
- Thomas traded Hollywood attention for engineering, quietly carving out a life outside the spotlight yet proud of his comic legacy
From Barney Fife’s badge to bedtime giggles, Don Knotts’ kids insist the laugh track never really faded.
