The late actor Don Knotts’ wife is Frances Yarborough, also known as Francey Yarborough.
Late husband of Frances Yarborough was a five-time Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian best known for his portrayal of Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.
Knotts’ third and final wife, Yarborough, predeceased him in 2006. They had first crossed paths in the late 1980s. But the couple endured a few years of marital turmoil.
Knotts and Francey have been friends for almost 20 years. In the interim, they developed a close relationship despite having a big age difference. Relive their first encounters, and their relationship’s development, and learn more about Francey Yarborough.
In the 1960s, Frances Yarborough was born.
Frances Yarborough was born as the daughter of Charity O’Connell Yarborough and Donald Howard Yarborough. She is in her late 70s because she was born in the 1960s.
Her father, Texas Democrat Donald Howard Yarborough, was a liberal supporter of John F. Kennedy and ran for governor in 1962.
Her father was a Marine Corps member as well, and at the end of World War II, he was a company commander in China.
Parkinson’s disease claimed Francey’s father in September 2009. In addition to these, Yarborough’s father was an attorney who fought for the rights of black people and immigrants from Mexico. He ran his legal practice.
Father of Francey Yarborough was a Kennedy supporter and politician.
Donald, the father of AD Francey, was born in New Orleans on December 15, 1925. Her paternal grandfather also served as the president of a bank that failed during the Great Depression.
When Donald was twelve, they all relocated to Houston.
siblings of Frances Yarborough
Sophie is her sister. Daniel de Visé, a writer and journalist with a 23-year career for The Washington Post, the Miami Herald, and three other newspapers, has Francey as his sister-in-law through her. The biography of Yarborough’s late husband is also written by de Vise.
Inez Vanderburg of Austin, Texas, Leverett Yarborough of Bend, Oregon, Danny Yarborough of Los Angeles, Donald Arthur Yarborough, and Mollie O’Connell Yarborough are among AD Yarborough’s siblings from her father’s previous relationships.
She has made a few film appearances.
Frances’s current full-time occupation is unknown, and according to IMDb, her sole film role was in the 1976 crime drama “The Electric Chair.”
When Frances Yarborough first met Don Knotts, she was a production assistant.
Frances Yarborough and Don Knotts, her late husband.
In one of her husband, Knotts’ plays, AD Yarborough once portrayed one of the third women—a 1960s hippie who aspires to be an actress.
How Did Frances Yarborough Meet Don Knotts, Her Husband?
Don Knotts, Frances’ husband, was her lifelong companion. According to reports, the couple got married in 2002. But how and when did the wife and husband first meet?
What a Country!, the syndicated comedy starring her husband Don, had just come to an abrupt end. The show’s production assistant was Francey. Since the beginning of 1987, she had been playing the part on the show. And it was at that time that Don and Yarborough first met.
Francey was referred to as a “beautiful, kind-hearted actress, who had settled in Hollywood to pursue improvisational comedy” by Knotts in his book Andy and Don: the making of a friendship and a classic American TV show.
Helping her future husband Don learn his lines was her main responsibility at the time.
They were more than 30 years apart in age.
Yarborough was in her twenties and the actor from The Andy Griffith Show was beginning his sixties when they first met, as was previously mentioned.
However, the book Andy and Don explains that they were simpatico individuals.
Don Knotts, Frances Yarborough’s husband, and she were more than 30 years apart in age.
In 2002, Frances Yarborough wed Don Knotts.
The wife of a multiple Emmy winner recalls their first dates by saying, “We had an instant rapport.”
“He was leading a somewhat absurd life, just like I was. We would only converse endlessly. He enjoyed learning about my family’s history. He had a crazy family, and I did, too. He appreciated human subtleties.
the former production assistant tacked on.
Yarborough furthered her initial impressions of the comedic actor by saying,
“‘When I first saw him, I thought he was so weak. I’d never met anyone who was so defenseless.
Don and Francey began going out to La Scala in Beverly Hills shortly after becoming acquainted, exchanging stories and making each other laugh.
They became a couple after a few months, and Francey moved into Don’s condo in Century City. They got married in 2002 and remained together until Knotts passed away in 2006.
Before they met, Frances Yarborough’s husband was an alcoholic.
Don was mostly nocturnal, drinking too much, and eating too little when he met Francey. He had developed a chain-smoking habit, stayed up too late, and needed pills to fall asleep.
But the actor from The Incredible Mr. Limpet abruptly stopped smoking soon after he met Yarborough.
Francey recalled how he dropped his cigarette and never looked back after hearing someone wheeze one day.
Don Knotts was previously married twice before Frances
Knotts’ first wife was Kathryn Metz, whom he wed in 1947. Thomas Knotts, a son, and Karen Knotts, a daughter, were born to them both. The union between Metz and Don was annulled in 1964.
Then, in 1974, Yarborough’s late husband wed Loralee Czuchna, his second wife; they were married until 1983.
The native of Morgantown wed Frances Yarborough after Czuchna.
Yarborough, Frances Final Days With Don Knotts, Her Husband
Don Knotts and Francey were residing in the Los Angeles district of Century City at the time of his passing. And during that time, Don had macular degeneration, a degenerative eye disease, severe hypochondria, cancer, and other illnesses.
Don pleaded with Francey to keep his illness a secret from almost everyone, let alone the tabloids. The actor, who was born in West Virginia, reportedly still desired to work, and a sick actor was unable to find employment.
From that point forward, Don and Francey kept his terminal illness a secret from his children. Even Andy Griffith, Knotts’ closest friend, was kept in the dark.
Don Knotts’s passing
Don had specified in his will that he did not want to be kept alive artificially. So, the machines were unplugged by the doctors. On February 24, 2006, a Friday, Don Knotts, Francey’s husband, passed away while being held by her, Karen, and Tom.
Don Knotts, the late husband of Frances Yarborough, received a lung cancer diagnosis.
The former ventriloquist’s primary cause of death was pneumonia related to lung cancer complications. The interment took place at Westwood Memorial Park, not far from the resting places of Truman Capote, Dean Martin, and Marilyn Monroe.
He captured the poignancy of people’s pride and suffering and made it into something charming and funny.
The inscription was written by Francey Yarborough Knotts, a widow.
Yarborough claimed that after Knotts passed away, her late husband “saw poignancy in people’s pride and pain” and that he managed to turn that into lovable humor.
As Mayor Turkey Lurkey in the 2005 film Chicken Little, Don Knotts gave his final acting performance.
Yarborough, Frances Following the Death
After her husband’s passing, Francey, Knotts’ final wife, essentially became a has-been. As a result, it is unclear what else she is doing at this time. Given that she never pursued acting as a career, there aren’t many categories that specifically describe Francey.
Yarborough’s disinterest in contemporary communication platforms also contributes to the difficulty of maintaining secrecy.
Do You Think She Got Don Knotts’ Wealth?
The veteran comedian’s fortune was not fully disclosed after his passing, and neither will it ever become public knowledge.
Even though he had a net worth of at least $20 million at the time of his death, the Knotts family members kept quiet about where the money went.
In any case, there’s a good chance that Francey received a sizeable inheritance following the passing of her millionaire husband.
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