Ted Knight

Actor

Born: 7 December 1923
Died: 26 August 1986 (cancer)
Birthplace: Terryville, Connecticut
Best known as: Newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Ted Knight played buffoonish and bombastic newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970-77. Knight won two Emmys and stole countless scenes on the show, which was one of the highest-rated comedies of its era. White-haired and firm-jawed, Knight made something of a specialty of pompous egotists; he played the hilarious Judge Smails in the 1980 film Caddyshack. Knight later starred in the sitcom Too Close For Comfort (1980-86), which morphed into The Ted Knight Show shortly before his death in 1986.
Extra credit: Knight had a small nonspeaking part as a guard at the end of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho... Too Close for Comfort was based on a British series, Keep It in the Family... Some sources list Knight's real name as Tadeus Wladyslaw Konopka or Tadewurz Wladzui Konopka; his gravestone, however, reads Theodore C. Konopka.

Copyright © 1998-2013 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved.

More on Ted Knight from Fact Monster:

  • Ted Knight - Biography of Ted Knight, Newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Judge Smails - Biography of Judge Smails, The pompous country club president in Caddyshack
  • Rodney Dangerfield - Biography of Rodney Dangerfield, The comedian who said "I don't get no respect"
  • December 7 Birthdays: Giovanni Bernini - December 7 birthdays: Giovanni Bernini, Ellen Burstyn, Larry Bird, Reginald Lewis, Richard Warren Sears, Aaron Carter, Willa Cather, Noam Chomsky, Tom Waits, Harry Chapin, Ted Knight
  • Selected Biographies: K - Selected biographies of well-known people and fictional characters

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.