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Don Knotts revealed that one of the best bits of ''The Ghost and Mr. Chicken'' was actually created by Andy Griffith
The Andy Griffith Show was more than just a television series.
The best experiences aren't the ones that last forever, but rather they're the experiences you can remember forever even after they're over.
Don Knotts was an experienced comedian by the time he joined the cast of The Andy Griffith Show. However, it was the relationships he forged while on the series that aided his career years after he departed the show to pursue acting in movies.
In an interview with The Tennessean, Knotts revealed that a line throughout one of his best-known movies, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, was repeated at the behest of longtime friend and co-star, Andy Griffith. Apparently, while the line "Atta boy, Luther!" wasn't actually penned by Griffith himself, it was his idea to say the line over and over and has led the line to reach an iconic status, emblematic of the movie itself.
Knotts actually called The Ghost and Mr. Chicken his favorite film he'd ever done. Knotts confirmed, "I think so." and continued, "The Reluctant Astronaut would be second and Shakiest Gun in the West next."
Earlier in the interview, Knotts commented "I got the idea for the picture when I remembered an episode [from The Andy Griffith Show] that had Andy and Jim Nabors and I in this haunted house. I thought that would probably be a good idea to start with. It was a tough picture to write. We had to make it a mystery and a comedy."
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal, Knotts explained, "I've really done a great deal of writing. I don't take credit for some of the film things, but I worked on them. And I used to sit in on a lot of the writing sessions for The Andy Griffith Show."
He continued, "Really, I started it out of necessity. You know, you may go on a guest on some show and the material may not be exactly right. You have to work on it yourself. That's how it all began."
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