Ted Knight: Ted Baxter
Was it Ted Baxter the character who 'made' The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Some have said so. Why was Baxter such an idiot, yet so irresistable? The reason was the massive talent of one Ted Knight.
Ted Knight was barely working at the time he auditioned for the part of Ted Baxter in 1970. He was barely making the rent...and he had a family to support. Determined to nab the role of pretentious newscaster, he reportedly went out and bought himself a blue sportcoat and worked out a voice for the character ahead of time. He imbibed Baxter with a set of emotions and character traits that the Show's writers had a field day with. It was as if this Ted Baxter character was so outrageously 'out of orbit' that all the viewer could do was laugh. At some point a few years into the series, Knight was convinced that he'd created a monster, claiming that his own name had become synonymous with lunacy. It so depressed him that he complained to producer/creators Jim Brooks and Allan Burns, threatening to leave the show. He reluctantly stayed on, and in seven years captured two Emmys and three nominations.
He was born Tadeus Wladyslaw Konopka in Terryville, Connecticut on December 7, 1923. He served in World War II, and legend has it that he was the second most decorated WWII veteran. He married Dorothy Smith in 1948, and they had three children: Ted, Jr., Elyse, and Eric. He started his career in television at station WTEN in Albany, New York in the 1950's, hosting "The Early Show". In 1957, Ted met his TV-adversary-to-be, Gavin MacLeod. According to Gavin, "He was playing the Mencken character in 'Inherit the Wind' and I've never seen it done as well before or since. It turned out we had the same agent and [we were] close ever since." Murray Slaughter needled Ted Baxter from the beginning, and Ted's responses to the less-than-friendly ribbings allowed Ted Knight to steal nearly every scene he was in. Perhaps his best line in the entire series came when Murray offhandedly mentioned a Fred Astaire picture. Ted's reply: "Isn't that the one where he danced?"
Ted worked off and on through the 50's and 60's. His non-MTM TV credits include The Fugitive, The FBI, Bonanza, Combat!, and The Twilight Zone. His filmography includes Twelve Hours to Kill (1960, in which Gavin MacLeod also appeared), The Candidate (1964), The Young Dillinger (1965), Countdown (1968), and of course the part of Judge Smails in Caddyshack (1980). By and large, he's remembered solely for Ted Baxter. In fact, some of the cast remember that whenever a particular episode was lacking in humor or needed a spark, they'd sometimes add a short scene featuring Ted Baxter because they all knew that Ted would play it so very, very well. After MTMS ended, he had a hard time getting other roles because his character made him almost surreal. Producers literally didn't even know he existed! The Ted Knight Show (1978) only lasted 6 episodes. Ted himself was the first to admit that the series was "a mistake, as it was too soon after Mary."
Ted Knight also made a record in 1975. "Hi Guys" features Ted Knight and the Poops in a collection of daffy songs, including such zingers as "Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini", "Male Chauvanist Pig", "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose", "Chick-a-Boom", and "I'm in Love with Barbara Walters".
Soon after cancellation of "The Ted Knight Show", plans were made for a second Ted Knight series, Too Close for Comfort, which did quite well and ran from 1980 to 1986. He was diagnosed with urinary tract cancer in 1985, and passed away on August 26, 1986. His private funeral supposedly had much the same atmosphere as Chuckles the Clown's! Today, Ed Asner remembers, "[Ted] taught me so much about humor and I still find myself imitating him. I don't know how many dinners we had together but I remember two things about all of them. He was tons of fun and [as per Baxter] I always got the check."
For more on Ted Knight, peruse The Official Ted Knight Site.
